he 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.

LEGUMINOSAE.--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).

LEMURIDAE.--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.

LITTORAL.--Inhabiting the seashore.

LOESS.--A marly deposit of recent (Post-Tertiary) date, which occupies a
great part of the valley of the Rhine.

MALACOSTRACA.--The higher division of the Crustacea, including the
ordinary crabs, lobsters, shrimps, etc., together with the woodlice and
sand-hoppers.

MAMMALIA.--The highest class of animals, including the ordinary hairy
quadrupeds, the whales and man, and characterised by the production
of living young which are nourished after birth by milk from the
teats (MAMMAE, MAMMARY GLANDS) of the mother. A striking difference in
embryonic development has led to the division of this class into two
great groups; in one of these, when the embryo has attained a certain
stage, a vascular connection, called the PLACENTA, is formed between the
embryo and the mother; in the other this is wanting, and the young are
produced in a very incomplete state. The former, including the greater
part of the class, are called PLACENTAL MAMMALS; the latter,
or APLACENTAL MAMMALS, include the Marsupials and Monotremes
(ORNITHORHYNCHUS).

MAMMIFEROUS.--Having mammae or teats (see MAMMALIA).

MANDIBLES.--in insects, the first or uppermost pair of jaws, which are
generally solid, horny, biting organs. In birds the term is applied
to both jaws with their horny coverings. In quadrupeds the mandible is
properly the lower jaw.

MARSUPIALS.--An order of Mamm