Voluspa 
spae, audcf. spaeicife.] 1. The name (literally, 
'the Prophecy of the Sibyl') of a poem of the 
Elder Edda. 2. [/. c.] Erroneously, a Scandi- 
navian prophetess or sibyl. 
Here seated, the voluspa or sibyl was to listen to the 
rhymical inquiries which should be made to her, and to 
return an extemporaneous ans\ver. Scott, Pirate, xxi. 
Voluta (vo-lu'ta), >i. [NL. (Linnajus, 1758), < 
li. valuta, a spiral, volute: see volute.'] 1. The 
typical genus of Volutidse, 
used with various restric- 
tions, now containing ovip- 
arous volutes with a short 
spire, large aperture, and 
long first columellar fold, as 
V. imperialis. See -volute, 2, 
and Volutidse (with cuts). 
2. In arch., same as volute. 
Kfclyn, Architects and Ar- 
chitecture. 
Volutacea (vol-u-ta'sf-a), 
n. pi. [NL., <' Voluta ' + 
-acea. A group of gastro- 
pods; the volutes. See Vo- 
liitidie. 
vqlutationt (vol-u-ta'shon), n. [< L. voluta- 
tio(n-), a rolling about, a wallowing, < volutare, 
freq. of volvere, roll : see volute.'] 1. A wallow- 
ing; a rolling, as of the body on the earth. 2. 
Acompound circular motion consisting of a rota- 
tion of a body about an axis through its center 
combined with a revolution about a distant axis. 
In the sea, when the storm is over, there remains still 
an inward working and volutation. 
Bp. Reynolds, The Passions, xxi. 
volute (vo-luf), n. and a. [< F. volwte = Sp. Pg. 
It. volutd, < L. valuta, a spiral scroll, a volute, < 
volvere, pp. volutus, turn round or about, roll, 
= E. wallow^.] I. n. 1. In arch., a spiral 
scroll forming an essential part of the Ionic, 
Imperial Volute ( 
imperialii 
6788 
coiled in a helix somewhat in the form of a vo- 
lute. It is commonly made in a conical form, so that 
the spring can be compressed in the direction of the axis 
about which it is coiled. 
volute-wheel (vo-liit'hwel), M. 1. A water- 
wheel with a volute-shaped casing about it to 
guide the water to its vanes and buckets. 2. 
A volute-shaped shell, that in revolving pre- 
sents its open mouth to the air, which is thus 
gathered into the tube and discharged through 
the hollow axis. It is a common and effective 
form of blower. E. H. Kniijht. 
Volutidae (vo-lu'ti-de), n. pi. [NL., < Valuta + 
-idle.'] A family of rachiglossate gastropods, 
typified by the genus Vohtta; 
the volutes. They have alarge un- 
divided foot, widely separate tenta- 
cles, eyes external to the tentacles, 
and a single (or triple) row of radular 
teeth, each median tooth generally 
having a trifurcate or simple apex. 
The operculum is generally absent; 
when present, as in Volutolyria, it 
is corneous and unguiculate, with 
apical nucleus in the adult. The 
animals are retractile in a shell gen- 
erally of a more or less obconic 
shape, with a plicated columella. 
They are mostly ovoviviparous, but 
in the genus Valuta eggs are laid in 
a very large thin horny capsule. The 
species are numerous, especially in 
tropical seas, and many have shells of 
remarkable beauty, highly esteemed 
hy conchologists. See Valuta (with 
cut) and volute, 2 (a) (with cut, and 
other cuta there cited). 
Volution (vo-lu'shon), . [< 
roll: 
Volutes. i. Greek Ionic : Temple of Artemis, Ephesus. 2. Com- 
posite (Roman) : Baths of Caracalla, Rome. 
Corinthian, and Composite capitals, of which it 
is a characteristic ornament. The number of vo- 
lutes in the Greek Ionic capital is four, two each on op- 
posite faces. In the Corinthian and Composite orders 
they are more numerous, in the former order being six- 
teen in number. See helix, 2 (with cut), and cuts under 
Acanthus, Corinthian, Ionic, and composite. Also voluta. 
2. In conch.: (a) A member of the Voliitidse. 
The volutes are chiefly tropical shells, especially of Indo- 
Pacific waters, some of them of great rarity and beauty, 
and highly prized by collectors, 
as V. itnperialis, the imperial 
volute, which shows beautiful 
sculpture and tracery, and has 
a circlet of spines like a diadem 
crowning the very large body- 
whorl (see cut under Voluta). 
The peacock-tail volute, Voluta 
(or Scaphella) junonia, of quite 
another form, is white with or- 
ange spots, and was long con- 
sidered one of the rarest of 
sheila, bringing a very high 
price. Many of the volutes be- 
ing well known, they take more 
distinctive names. Such is the 
West Indian music-shell, Vo- 
luta musica, so called because 
the markings resemble written 
music. This species, unlike 
most volutes, is operculate, and 
is placed by some authors in 
another genus, Volutolyria or 
Musica. Some volutes are 
known as bat-shells, as V. vegper- 
tilio; others as yets or boat-shells and melon-shells (see cuts 
under Cymbium and Melo) ; and some forms, as Cymbium, 
are oviparous. See also cut under Volutida. (fo) A 
volution or whorl of a spiral shell Canal of a 
volute, a channel inclosed by a list or fillet, in the face 
of the circumvolutions of the Ionic capital. False vo- 
lutes, the TurbineUida. P. P. Carpenter. 
II. a. In 1>ot., rolled up in any direction. 
volute-compass (vo-lut'kum' l 'pas), n. A form 
of compass used, in drafting, to trace a spiral by 
means of the gradual mechanical expansion of 
the legs. 
VOluted (vo-lu'ted), a. [< volute + -ed%.] Hav- 
ing a coil, whorl, or volute, as a shell, 
volute-spring (vo-lut'spring), n. A spring con- 
sisting of a flat bar or ribbon, usually of steel, 
A Volutite 
(Vol-varia bul- 
UUtfl. 
Cf. vulva.] 
A Volute, the Music-shell 
{Valuta or Volutolyria j 
Voluta or Amoria 
undulata. of Austra- 
lia, one of the I'oluti. 
dst, crawling with ex- 
tended foot and ten- 
L. volvere, pp. volutus, roll: 
see volute.] 1. A rolling or winding ; a twist; 
especially, a spiral turn ; a convolution. 
The foaming base an angry whirlwind sweeps 
Where curling billows rouse the fearful deeps. . . . 
The swift volution and the enormous train 
Let sages versed in nature's lore explain. 
Falconer, Shipwreck, ii. 43. 
2. In conch. : (a) A whorl; one turn of a spiral 
shell. (6) A set of whorls ; the spire of a shell ; 
the spiral turning or twisting of a shell. See 
cuts under spire 2 , n., and univalve. 3. In anat., 
a convolution or gyration ; a gyrus : 
as, the volutions of the brain. 
Volutite (vol'u-tit), n. [< volute + 
-ite%.] A fossil volute, or a similar 
shell, as a species of Volvaria (which 
see). 
volutoid (vol'u-toid), a. and n. [< 
volute + -oid.'} I. a. Resembling 
a volute ; of or relating to the Volu- 
tidie. 
II. n. A volute. 
volva (vol'va), n. ; pi. volvee (-ve). 
[NL., < L. volva, vulva, a wrapper, 
covering, < volvere, roll : see volute. 
In l>ot., a wrapper or external covering of some 
sort ; specifically, in JJymenomycetes, same as 
velum universale. Compare exoperidium. See 
velum, 2, and cut under Fungi. 
Volvaria (vol-va'ri-a), n. [NL. (Lamarck, 
1801), < L. volva, a wrapper, cover: see volva, 
vulva.'} A genus of tectibranchiate gastropods, 
of the family Actseonidee, represented by extinct 
Tertiary shells, as V. bulloides: formerly in- 
cluding certain smooth shells of the family 
Marginellidte. See cut under volatile. 
volvate (vol'vat), a. [< volva + -ate^.] In bot., 
producing, furnished with, or characteristic of 
a volva. 
volvet (volv), v. t. [< L. volvere, turn, roll 
round or about, roll. From the same L. verb 
are ult. E. convolve, devolve, evolve, involve, re- 
volve, etc., vohite, volt 1 , vault 1 , vault 2 , etc.] To 
turnover; revolve, especially in the mind; con- 
sider; think over. 
I valued, tourned, and redde many volumes and bokes, 
conteyning famouse histories. 
Eerners, tr. of Froissart's Chron., Pref. 
I have been volving and revolving in my fancy some 
time, but to no purpose, by what clean device or facete 
contrivance I might . . . modulate them. 
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, V. 109. (Dairies.) 
VOlvelle (vol-vel'), . [F.] A small and gener- 
ally circular movable plate affixed to an engrav- 
ing containing a dial or lottery, and made to 
carry the index-hand or pointer; any movable 
engraving superimposed on another for the pur- 
pose of showing variations. N. and Q., 6th 
ser., XI. 217. 
volvocinaceous (vol"vo-si-na'shius), a. [As 
Volvocin-ese + -oceans.] Belonging to or char- 
acterizing the Volvocinese. 
A peculiar condition of the Volvocinaceous Alga? (Ste- 
phanosphsera pluvialis, etc.). 
H. C. Wood, Fresh- Water Algas, p. 235. 
vomic 
Volvocinese (vol-vo-siu'e-e). . pi. [NL.. < 
XL. Volvox (-oc-) + -inese.] An order of fresh- 
water algse, of the class Coenolriese, typified by 
the genus Volvox. 
volvocinian (vol-vo-sin'i-an), . [As Volvo- 
cin-ese + -ian.] Kesembling a volvox, as an 
iufusorian ; volvocinaceous. 
I have cited the two volvocinian genera Pandorina and 
Volvox as examples of the differentiation of homoplastids 
into the lowest heteroplastids. Nature, XLI. 318. 
Volvox (vol'voks), 11. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1758), 
< L. volvere, roll, turn about: see volve.] 1. A 
small genus of fresh-water alga?, of the order 
Volvocinese and class Canobiese. It has a spherical 
ccenobium of a pale-green color, which is constantly ro- 
tating and changing place, looking like a hollow globe, 
composed of numerous cellsfsometimes as many as twelve 
thousand) arranged on the periphery at regular distances, 
and connected by the matrical gelatin. It is furnished with 
a red lateral spot, contractile vacuoles, and two long-ex- 
serted cilia. Propagation is both sexual and non-sexual. 
V. ylobator, the best-known species, is not uncommon in 
clear pools, ponds, etc. It was long regarded as an infu- 
sorial animalcule. 
2. [I. c.] A member of the above genus: as, 
the globate volvox. 
volvulus (vol'vu-lus), w. [NL., < L. volvere. 
turn, roll : see valve.] Occlusion of the intes- 
tine, caused by a sharp bend or twist of the 
tube. 
volyer(vol'yer), n. The lurcher. [Prov. Eng.] 
vomet, ''. [< ME. vomen, < OF. vomit; < L. vo- 
mere, vomit: see vomit.] To vomit. 
He shal hurtle the hond of Moab in his vomyng. 
Wyclif, Jer. xlviii. 26. 
vomet, [ME., < vome, v.] Vomit. 
Alle forsothe boordis ben fulfild with the voine and 
fllthis. Wyclif, Isa. xxviii. 8. 
VOmela, vormela, . The Sarmatian polecat, 
Putorius sarmaticus. See sarmatier. 
VOmer (vo'mer), n. [NL., < L. vomer, a plow- 
share.] 1. In zool. and anat., a bone of the 
skull of most vertebrates ; a membrane-bone 
or splint-bone developed in the median line of 
the skull, beneath the basicranial axis, primi- 
tively consisting of paired halves, which some- 
times remain separate, one on each side of the 
middle line. Its special shapes and connections are 
extremely variable in the vertebrate series; in general, it 
is situated below or in advance of the basisphenoid, below 
or behind the mesethmoid, and between the maxillary, 
palatine, or pterygoid bones of opposite sides, serving 
thus as a septum between right and left nasal or naso- 
palatine passages. In man the yomer is plowshare- 
shaped, articulating with the sphenoid behind, the meseth- 
moid above, the palatal plates of the maxillary and pala- 
tal bones below, and the triangular median cartilage of the 
nose in front ; it thus forms much of the nasal septum, 
or partition between right and left nasal cavities, its pos- 
terior free border definitely separating the posterior nares. 
In birds its extremely variable shapes and connections 
furnish valuable zoological characters. (See segithogna- 
thous, and cuts under demognathous, dromseognathous. 
saurognathous, and schizognathous.) The vomer is by Owen 
regarded as the centrum of the fourth or rhinencephalic 
-on 
Section of Skull of Elephant, greatly reduced, showing Me, meseth- 
moid ; Vo, vomer ; an, fn, anterior and posterior nares. 
cranial vertebra a view now entertained by few, it being 
generally regarded as a mere splint-bone. It is wanting 
in many vertebrates. The so-called vomer of fishes and ba- 
trachians is not homologically the bone of that name in 
higher vertebrates, but is identified by some with the para- 
sphenoid (which see, with cut); while others name the 
ichthyic vomer the anteal bone. It often bears teeth. See 
cuts under Chelonidee, craniofacial, Cydodus, Gallinsf, 
Lepidosiren, Ophidia, paraspltenoid, Phyfeter, Pythonidar, 
Rana, teleost, and Thiiiocoridse. 
The bones in Fish and Amphibians usually denominated 
voniers must part with their claims to that title and yield 
it to the so-called parasphenoid. 
Button, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1884, p. 570. 
2. In ornitli., the pygostyle or rump-post ; the 
large, peculiarly shaped terminal bone of the 
tail of most birds, consisting of several anky- 
losed vertebra?. See cut under pygostyle. 
Wings of the vomer. See al wineris, under ala. 
vomerine (vo'mer-in), . [< vomer + -iwe 1 .] 
Of or pertaining to the vomer. 
vomic (vom'ik), a. [< L. vomicus, ulcerous, < 
vomica, a sore, boil, abscess, < roiuere, vomit, 
