Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection

GLOSSARY 1. GLOSSARY OF THE PRINCIPAL SCIENTIFIC TERMS USED IN THE PRESENT VOLUME. (continued)

SPINAL CORD.--The central portion of the nervous system in the Vertebrata, which descends from the brain through the arches of the vertebrae, and gives off nearly all the nerves to the various organs of the body.

STAMENS.--The male organs of flowering plants, standing in a circle within the petals. They usually consist of a filament and an anther, the anther being the essential part in which the pollen, or fecundating dust, is formed.

STERNUM.--The breast-bone.

STIGMA.--The apical portion of the pistil in flowering plants.

STIPULES.--Small leafy organs placed at the base of the footstalks of the leaves in many plants.

STYLE.--The middle portion of the perfect pistil, which rises like a column from the ovary and supports the stigma at its summit.

SUBCUTANEOUS.--Situated beneath the skin.

SUCTORIAL.--Adapted for sucking.

SUTURES (in the skull).--The lines of junction of the bones of which the skull is composed.

TARSUS (pl. TARSI).--The jointed feet of articulate animals, such as insects.

TELEOSTEAN FISHES.--Fishes of the kind familiar to us in the present day, having the skeleton usually completely ossified and the scales horny.

TENTACULA or TENTACLES.--Delicate fleshy organs of prehension or touch possessed by many of the lower animals.

TERTIARY.--The latest geological epoch, immediately preceding the establishment of the present order of things.

TRACHEA.--The windpipe or passage for the admission of air to the lungs.

TRIDACTYLE.--Three-fingered, or composed of three movable parts attached to a common base.

TRILOBITES.--A peculiar group of extinct crustaceans, somewhat resembling the woodlice in external form, and, like some of them, capable of rolling themselves up into a ball. Their remains are found only in the Palaeozoic rocks, and most abundantly in those of Silurian age.