(Encyclopedia) delftware. The earliest delftware was a faience, a heavy, brown earthenware with opaque white glaze and polychrome decoration, made in the late 16th cent. Some of the earliest…
(Encyclopedia) Slye, MaudSlye, Maudslī [key], 1879–1954, American pathologist, b. Minneapolis, grad. Brown, 1899. At the Univ. of Chicago she taught pathology, becoming professor emeritus in 1945,…
(Encyclopedia) thick-knee, common name for terrestrial, Old World birds in the family Burhinidae. The name derives from the bird's thickened tarsal joints. Thick-knees are shy, solitary birds. They…
(Encyclopedia) cowrie or cowrycowrieboth: kouˈrē [key], common name applied to marine gastropods belonging to the family Cypraeidae, a well-developed family of marine snails found in the tropics.…
(Encyclopedia) coatimundicoatimundikōätˌēmŭnˈdē, –m&oobreve;nˈ– [key] or coaticoatimundikōätˈē [key], omnivore of North and South America related to the raccoon. The coatimundi has a long snout,…
(Encyclopedia) English sparrow or house sparrow, small bird, Passer domesticus, common throughout most of the world. English sparrows are 4 to 7 in. (10–18 cm) long, with short, stout bills. The male…
(Encyclopedia) date, name for a palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and for its edible fruit. Probably native to Arabia and North Africa, it has from earliest times been a principal food in many desert and…
(Encyclopedia) inchworm, name for the larvae of moths of the family Geometridae, a large, cosmopolitan group with over 1,200 species indigenous to North America. Also called measuring worms,…
(Encyclopedia) water beetle, name for aquatic beetles of several families. They should not be confused with water bugs, which are true bugs (order Hemiptera). The predaceous diving beetles (family…
