called the homologue of the other. In different plants the parts of the flower are homologous, and in general these parts are regarded as homologous with leaves.
HOMOPTERA.—An order or sub-order of insects having (like the Hemiptera) a jointed beak, but in which the fore-wings are either wholly membranous or wholly leathery, The Cicadæ, frog-hoppers, and Aphides, are well-known examples.
HYBRID.—The offspring of the union of two distinct species.
HYMENOPTERA.—An order of insects possessing biting jaws and usually four membranous wings in which there are a few veins. Bees and wasps are familiar examples of this group.
HYPERTROPHIED.—Excessively developed.
ICHNEUMONIDÆ.—A family of hymenopterous insects, the members of which lay their eggs in the bodies or eggs of other insects.
IMAGO.—The perfect (generally winged) reproductive state of an insect.
INDIGENES.—The aboriginal animal or vegetable inhabitants of a country or region.
INFLORESCENCE.—The mode of arrangement of the flowers of plants.
INFUSORIA.—A class of microscopic animalcules, so called from their having originally been observed in infusions of vegetable matters. They consist of a gelatinous material enclosed in a delicate membrane, the whole or part of which is furnished with short vibrating hairs (called cilia), by means of which the animalcules swim through the water or convey the minute particles of their food to the orifice of the mouth.
INSECTIVOROUS.—Feeding on insects.
INVERTEBRATA, or INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS.—Those animals which do not possess a backbone or spinal column.
LACUNÆ.—Spaces left among the tissues in some of the lower animals and serving in place of vessels for the circulation of the fluids of the body.
LAMELLATED.—Furnished with lamellæ or little plates.
LARVA (pl. LARVÆ).—The first condition of an insect at its issuing from the egg, when it is usually in the form of a grub, caterpillar, or maggot.
LARYNX.—The upper part of the windpipe opening into the gullet.
LAURENTIAN.—A group of greatly altered and very ancient rocks, which is greatly developed along the course of the St. Laurence, whence the name. It is in these that the earliest known traces of organic bodies have been found.
LEGUMINOSÆ.—An order of plants represented by the common peas and beans, having an irregular flower in which one petal stands up like a wing, and the stamens and pistil are enclosed in a sheath formed by two other petals. The fruit is a pod (or legume).
LEMURIDÆ.—A group of four-handed animals, distinct from the monkeys and approaching the insectivorous quadrupeds in some of their characters and habits. Its members have the nostrils curved or twisted, and a claw instead of a nail upon the first finger of the hind hands.
LEPIDOPTERA.—An order of insects, characterised by the possession of a spiral proboscis, and of four large more or less scaly wings. It includes the well-known Butterflies and Moths.
