258 THE OPEN BOOK OF NATURE 
Larva : The caterpillar stage of an insect. 
Larvarium : A feeding-cage for larve. 
Legume : A pod, like that of the pea. 
Lepidodendron : A fossil plant, said to have been a gigantic club- 
moss. 
Lepidopterist : A person who collects and studies scale-winged 
insects (butterflies and moths). 
Lias : Jurassic strata extending across England from Lyme Regis 
to Whitby. 
Lichens ; Cellular flowerless plants. 
Lignite : Brown coal. 
Limonite : Brown or “ bog ” iron ore. 
Linear : In botany, long, narrow, with parallel sides. 
Liverworts : Lowly plants nearly related to mosses. 
Loam : A soil formed of sand, clay, vegetable and animal matter. 
Lycopods : Plants of the quillwort and club-moss type. 
Mammals : Animals that suckle their young. 
Mammoth : An extinct shaggy-coated elephant. 
Mandibles : Appendages used for tearing up food in preparation 
for eating, as in cray-fish, bees, etc. 
Marl : A mixture of clay and lime. 
Mastodon : An extinct kind of elephant. 
Megalosaurus : A huge extinct carnivorous reptile. 
Megatherium : An extinct sloth of large size. 
Mesozoic : The middle age of life. The third great geological 
era. 
Metamorphic : Term applied to rocks whose materials are re- 
arranged by pressure, etc. 
Mica : A glistening mineral which can be readily split into thin, 
shining plates. 
Miocene : he third and middle period of the Cainozoic Era. 
Mollusca : Soft-bodied animals, usually possessing shells, in- 
cluding the shell-fish. 
Monochlamydese : A sub-class of plants whose flowers have but 
one floral envelope. 
Monocotyledons : A class of plants whose seeds have but one 
cotyledon. 
Mucronate : Tipped at the apex with a short point. 
Mylodon : An extinct kind of sloth. 
Myriapoda : A class of segmented animals, including the centi- 
pedes and millipedes. 
Nectary : An organ in flowers which secretes honey. 
Nodes : In botany, the points on stems where leaves spring from. 
Obcordate : Inversely heart-shaped. 
Oblong : In botany, long oval, equally broad at each end. 
Obovate : Inversely egg-shaped. 
