GLOSSARY
OF TERMS USED IN CONCHOLOGY.
Abbreviated, cut short.
Abdomen, the belly.
Acuminated, sharp pointed.
Aculeated, prickly.
Alated, winged.
Annulated, divided into rings.
Annulations, rings.
Aperture, the orifice or opening of the shell.
Apex, the point of the spire.
Approximating, approaching together.
Arcuated, of an arch form.
Area, surface between the lines.
Articulations, junctures or joints.
Attenuated, thin, slender.
Aurated, having ears, as the Pecten.
Auricled, having ear-like appendages.
Auriform, ear-shaped.
Barbed, bearded.
Base, lower extremity of the shell.
Beak, prolongation at the base.
Beard, see Byssus.
Bi, signifying two.
Biangulated, having two corners or angles.
Bidentate, having two teeth.
Bifid, opening with a cleft.
Bilobate, divided into two lobes.
Bimarginate, two margins or lips.
Biradiate, having two rays.
Bivalve, having two valves.
Blunt, obtuse, opposed to acute.
Borer, a piercer.
Bulging, gibbous, swollen out.
Byssus, common in the Mytilus and Pinna, by which they attach themselves to objects.
Callous, indurated.
Callosity, a protuberance.
Calcareous, relating to lime.
Canal, the prolongation of the beak.
Canaliculated, channeled or grooved.
Cardinal, see Teeth.
Carinated, like a boat’s keel.
Cartilage, a flexible fibrous substance by which the valves are united.
Cartilaginous, resembling a ligament.
Chambered, divided by partitions.
Cicatrix, the muscular impression.
Ciliated, edged with bristles or hairs.
Cinerous, of an ash colour.
Clavate, club-shaped.
Columella, the upright pillar of the shell.
Complicated, doubled together.
Compressed, flattened.
Concave, hollowed out.
Concentric, running to the centre.
Cone, the form of a sugar loaf.
Convolute, whorls running round.
Confluent, running together.
Conoid, figure like a cone.
Contorted, twisted in oblique direction.
Contracted, shortened, shrunk up.
Cordate, heart shape.
Cordiform, form of a heart.
Coriaceous, leather-like consistence.
Corneus, resembling horn.
Coronal, resembling a crown.
Coronated, crowned towards the apex.
Costated, ribbed.
Cortex, anterior skin.
Crenulated, notched at the margin.
Crispated, with waving lines.
Cuneiform, wedge form.
Cylindrical, round like a roller.
Cybiform, boat-shaped.
Decollated, truncated transversely.
Decorticated, divested of epidermis.
Decussated, lines intersecting each other.
Deflexed, bent aside.
Dentated, having teeth.
Depressed, shallow, flat.
Diaphanous, clear, pellucid.
Digitated, having finger-like claws.
Disk, the highest part of the valves.
Divaricated, spreading out.
Divergent, tending to a point.
Dorsal, belonging to the back.
Dotted, punctured like a thimble.
Duplicated, divided into plaits or folds.
Ears, projections on the sides of the hinge.
Echinated, set with spires.
Effuse, spread out.
Elliptical, oval.
Elongated, drawn out.
Emarginated, with the edge notched.
Ensisform, sabre-shaped.
Entire, whole.
Epidermis, the outer coating of a shell.
Equilateral, all sides alike.
Equivalve, both sides alike.
Exserted, protruding.
Falcated, hooped like a scythe.
Fasciated, covered with bands.
Ferruginous, of an iron colour.
Filament, a thread-like process.
Filiform, thread-shaped, slender.
Fimbriated, fringed.
Fissure, a cleft or slit.
Flexuous, zigzag, with angles widening.
Flexure, a bending.
Fluviatile, belonging to fresh water.
Foliaceous, lamina or leave-shaped.
Fragile, brittle, easily broken.
Front, the aperture next the observer.
Furcated, forked.
Furrow, a trench or hollow.
Fuscated, darkened, obscured.
Fusiform, spindle-shaped, conical, or oval.
Gaping, when the valves do not close.
Geniculate, keeled.
Genus, characters by which they are distinguished from others.
Genera, plural of genus.
Gibbous, bulged.
Glabrous, having a smooth surface.
Globose, globular, round.
Hemispherical, in the shape of a half globe.
Heterostrophe, shells whose spires reverse.
Hispid, hairy.
Hinge, the part where the valves are united.
Jagged, denticulated, uneven.
Imbricate, covered with scales.
Imperforate, having no umbilicus.
Inequilateral, when the anterior and posterior parts of the shell are dissimilar.
Inequivalve, when the valves are dissimilar.
Inarticulate, indistinct.
Incumbent, one lying over the other.
Incurved, bent backward.
Indented, unequally marked.
Inflated, tumid, swollen.
Inflected, bent inward.
Inflexed, bent towards each other.
Intercostal, placed between the ribs.
Interrupted, divided, separated.
Interstice, space between.
Intortion, turning or twisting.
Involute, without a spire.
Involution, that part which involves another.
Juncture, the joining of the whorl in univalves.
Keel, the longitudinal prominence in the Argonauta.
Keeled, see Carinated.
Labra, the lips.
Laciniate, cut in irregular segments.
Lacunose, surface covered with pits.
Lamellar, films on plates.
Lamellated, divided into distinct plaits or foliations.
Laminæ, thin plates, laid one above another.
Lanceolate, oblong, tapering like the head of a lance.
Lateral, extending to one side from the centre.
Latticed, see Decussated.
Lenticulate, doubly convex.
Ligament, a solid body which connects the valves in bivalves.
Linear, composed of lines.
Linguiformed, tongue-shaped.
Lip, the outer edge of the aperture of univalves.
Lobated, rounded at the edges.
Longitudinal, the length of the shell.
Lunated, formed like a half moon.
Lunule, crescent-like.
Luniform, shape of a crescent.
Margin, the whole circumference or outline of the shell in bivalves.
Marginated, having a prominent margin or border.
Membrane, a web of fibres.
Mouth, see Aperture.
Muscular impressions, marks made by the animal in adhering to the shell.
Mottled, clouded or spotted.
Mucronate, ending in a sharp point.
Multilocular, many chambered.
Muricated, clothed with sharp spines.
Nacred, pearly.
Nemoral, belonging to a wood.
Nited, glossy.
Nodose, knotty.
Nucleus, a kernel.
Obsolete, obliterated.
Oblong, oval.
Ocellated, eye-like spots.
Ochreous, colour of yellow ochre.
Offuscated, darkened, clouded.
Olivaceous, of a greenish olive colour.
Operculum, which closes the aperture of the shell.
Orbicular, circular, round.
Orifice, an opening or perforation.
Ovate, shaped like an egg.
Ovoid, oval.
Papillose, pimple, dotted.
Papyraceous, thin as paper.
Patulous, with a gap or opening.
Partitions, processes dividing the shells of the Nautilus, Serpula, &c.
Pectinated, resembling the teeth of a comb.
Pedicle, the support of the Anatifera and its corresponding species.
Peduncle, a tube on which any thing is seated.
Pellucid, transparent, clear, bright.
Pentagonal, having five sides.
Perforated, pierced with holes.
Pervious, admitting passage.
Pillar, in univalves the internal continuation of the columella or inner lips, extending from the base to the apex.
Pinnated, winged.
Plaited, folded.
Plaits, folds.
Plicated, folded or plaited.
Posterior, see Margin.
Produced, lengthened out.
Protrude, to thrust forward.
Punctuated, like the punctures of a thimble.
Pyriform, pear-shaped.
Quadrangular, having four right angles.
Quadruplicated, having four plaits.
Radiated, furnished with rays.
Radicated, fixed by the base to another body.
Rectangular, having right angles.
Recurvated, turned backward.
Recurved, bowed back.
Reflected, bent backward.
Refracted, abruptly bent.
Reniform, kidney-shaped.
Replicated, folded or plaited.
Reticulated, formed like a piece of net-work.
Retuse, ending in an obtuse sinus.
Reversed spire, see Heterostrophe.
Revolute, rolled backward.
Ribbed, having longitudinal ribs.
Ridge, the upper part of a slope.
Rostrum, the beak.
Rugose, wrinkled.
Sanguinaceous, divided into chambers.
Scabious, rough, rugged.
Scalloped, indented at the edges.
Scutellated, shield-shaped.
Seam, line formed by the union of the valves.
Semi, the half.
Semi-cordate, half heart-shaped.
Semi-orbicular, shape of a half globe.
Semi-lunar, shape of a half moon.
Septiform, shape of a partition.
Serrated, like the teeth of a saw.
Sessile, sitting or seated.
Seta, a bristle.
Setaceous, covered with bristles.
Setiferous, bearing bristles.
Sinister valve, is the left valve.
Sinus, a groove or cavity.
Siphunculus, a cylindrical perforation as in the Nautilus, Spirula, &c.
Spatulate, rounded and broad at the top.
Species, the division of a family or genus.
Spiny, thorny.
Spinous, like a hedgehog.
Spire, all the whorls in univalves except the one in which the aperture is situated, which is termed the body.
Spiral, twisted like a corkscrew.
Squamose, scaly.
Striated, covered with thread-like lines.
Sub, almost.
Subarcuated, somewhat arched.
Subconic, somewhat conical.
Subulate, awl-shaped.
Sulcated, furrowed.
Summit, the tip or apex.
Suture, a hollow line of division in univalves, the spiral line of which separates the wreaths.
Teeth, pointed protuberances within the hinge in bivalves by which the valves are united.
Tentacula, the feelers of snails, which inhabit shells.
Tessellated, chequered like a chess board.
Testacea, that order of animals covered with a testaceous shell. Testaceous, consisting of carbonate of lime and animal matter.
Tortuosity, flexure.
Tortuous, twisted.
Transverse, crossways.
Trapeziform, shaped like a trapezium.
Trigonal, having three angles.
Truncated, cut short, ending abruptly.
Tubercle, knot or pimple.
Tuberculated, knotted, pimpled.
Tubular, in the shape of a hollow tube.
Tunicated, coated.
Turbinated, shape like a top or pear.
Turgid, swollen.
U and V.
Valves, the various pieces which compose the shell.
Varices, longitudinal ribs in univalve shells.
Variety, difference in species.
Vaulted, roofed.
Ventral, belonging to the belly.
Ventricose, inflated, swelled in the middle.
Vermiform, worm-shaped.
Vertex, the top of a most prominent part.
Verrucose, warted.
Verticulated, whorled.
Umbilicated, having a depression in the centre.
Umbo, the round part which turns over the hinge.
Undulated, waved.
Ungulata, shaped like a horse’s hoof.
Unilocular, chambered singly.
Univalve, shells of one valve only.
Volutions, the turnings of univalves.
Whorl, a spiral convolution.
Zigzag, having reverse turnings and windings.
Zoned, surrounded by belts or girdles.