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mayfly

(Encyclopedia)mayfly, any insect of the order Ephemeroptera, so named because the adults live for a short time, often only a single day, during which they molt twice, mate, and lay their eggs in freshwater. The adu...

mouth

(Encyclopedia)mouth, entrance to the digestive and respiratory tracts. The mouth, or oral cavity, is ordinarily a simple opening in lower animals; in vertebrates it is a more complex structure. In humans, the mouth...

sawfly

(Encyclopedia)sawfly, common name for insects of several families of the order Hymenoptera, which also includes the ants, wasps, and bees. Sawflies are named for the two sawtoothed blades of the female's ovipositor...

monkey-puzzle tree

(Encyclopedia)monkey-puzzle tree, evergreen tree (Araucaria araucana) native to Chile and widely cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental. The symmetrical branches have an unusual angularity and are completely covered...

brasses, monumental

(Encyclopedia)brasses, monumental, or sepulchral brasses, memorials to the dead, in use in churches on the Continent and in England in the 13th cent. and for several centuries following. They are usually set in the...

Tupelo , city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Tupelo to͞oˈpĭlō, tyo͞o– [key], city (1990 pop. 30,685), seat of Lee co., NE Miss.; founded 1859, inc. 1870. It is the trade, processing, and shipping center for a cotton, grain, dairying, and ...

bark cloth

(Encyclopedia)bark cloth, primitive fabric made in tropical and subtropical countries from the soft inner bark of certain trees. It has been made and used in parts of Africa and India, the Malay Peninsula, Samoa, t...

dragonfly

(Encyclopedia)dragonfly, any insect of the order Odonata, which also includes the damselfly. Members of this order are generally large predatory insects and characteristically have chewing mouthparts and four membr...

silk

(Encyclopedia)silk, fine, horny, translucent, yellowish fiber produced by the silkworm in making its cocoon and covered with sericin, a protein. Many varieties of silk-spinning worms and insects are known, but the ...

Penn, Irving

(Encyclopedia)Penn, Irving, 1917–2009, American photographer, elder brother of Arthur Penn, b. Plainfield, N.J.; studied Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now University of the Arts, 1934–38). Origi...