Vexil´lum, n. Rhachis and web of a feather taken together; all of a feather excepting calamus.

Vibris´sa, n.; pl. vibrissæ. Bristly or bristle-tipped feather about the mouth of a bird.

Vic´tus, n. Food; diet.

Vil´li, n. pl. Soft papulous projections of membrane.

Vis´ceral, a. Pertaining to the viscera.

Vis´cus, n.; pl. viscera. Any interior organ of the body, but especially of the digestive system. The stomach is a viscus; the intestines are viscera.

Vi´sus, n. Vision; eyesight.

Vi´telline, a. Pertaining to the vitellus.

Vi´telline Mem´brane, n. An envelope of the vitellus.

Vitel´lus, n. Yolk (which see).

Vit´reous, a. Glassy; said of the humor in the back chamber of the eye.

Vit´ta, n. Broad band of color.

Vo´mer, n. A bone of the skull, lying at the base, in the median line, in advance of the sphenoid. Also, the peculiarly shaped and enlarged last bone of the tail, or pygostyle.

W.

Washed, a. As if overlaid with a thin layer of different color.

Wat´tle, n. A naked, fleshy, and usually wrinkled and highly colored skin hanging from the chin or throat, as in the cock and turkey.

Web, n. The vane of a feather, on either side of the rhachis.

Wedge-shaped, a. See Cuneate.

Whis´kered, a. Having lengthened or bristly feathers on the cheeks.

Wing, n. (73.) See Ala.

Wing, Bend of. (77.) See Flexura.

Wing-coverts, n. pl. (83.) See Tectrices.

Wolff´ian Bodies, n. Certain organs of the embryo associated with the uro-genitals.

X.

Xi´phoid, a. or n. Sword-shaped. Posterior prolongation of the sternum.

Y.

Yolk or Yelk, n. “Yellow” of an egg; a soft, opaque, yellow globular mass, enveloped in a proper membrane (the vitelline) and suspended in the white by the chalazæ. It has a central cavity full of a clear substance, furnished with a duct leading to a mass of cells termed proligerous disc; adhering to its surface is the cicatriculum, or “tread,” which becomes the embryo.

Z.

Zo´na Pellu´cida, n. Consolidated membranous envelope of the primitive ovum.

Zoölogy, n. Natural history of animals, of which ornithology is one department.

Zygapoph´ysis, a. Articular process of a vertebra.

Zygodac´tyle, a. Yoke-toed; having the toes in pairs, two before and two behind.

Zygo´ma, n. Malar bone and its connections.

Zygomat´ic, a. Pertaining to the malar bone.

INDEXES.

INDEX OF ENGLISH NAMES.