Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

100 results found

beetle

(Encyclopedia)beetle, common name for insects of the order Coleoptera, which, with more than 300,000 described species, is the largest of the insect orders. Beetles have chewing mouthparts and well-developed antenn...

moth

(Encyclopedia)moth, any of the large and varied group of insects which, along with the butterflies, make up the order Lepidoptera. The moths comprise the great majority of the 100,000 species of the order, and abou...

insect

(Encyclopedia)CE5 External anatomy of a female grasshopper, representative of the class Insecta insect, invertebrate animal of the class Insecta of the phylum Arthropoda. Like other arthropods, an insect has a ...

insecticides

(Encyclopedia)insecticides, chemical, biological, or other agents used to destroy insect pests; the term commonly refers to chemical agents only. The liabilities of chemical insecticides have encouraged interest ...

lithography

(Encyclopedia)lithography lĭthŏgˈrəfē [key], type of planographic or surface printing. It is distinguished from letterpress (relief) printing and from intaglio printing (in which the design is cut or etched in...

termite

(Encyclopedia)termite or white ant, common name for a soft-bodied social insect of the infraorder Isoptera. Originally classified in as a separate order, termites are genetically related to cockroaches and are now ...

tobacco

(Encyclopedia)tobacco, name for any plant of the genus Nicotiana of the Solanaceae family (nightshade family) and for the product manufactured from the leaf and used in cigars and cigarettes, snuff, and pipe and ch...

digestive system

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Digestive system digestive system, in the animal kingdom, a group of organs functioning in digestion and assimilation of food and elimination of wastes. Virtually all animals have a digestive ...

opium

(Encyclopedia)opium, substance derived by collecting and drying the milky juice in the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. Opium varies in color from yellow to dark brown and has a characterist...

smoking

(Encyclopedia)smoking, inhalation and exhalation of the fumes of burning tobacco in cigars and cigarettes and pipes; in the 21st cent., vaping, the similar use of e-cigarettes, also has become common. Some persons ...

Browse by Subject