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sand dollar

(Encyclopedia)sand dollar, common name for a marine animal in the same phylum as the starfish (see sea star). The sand dollar has a rigid, flattened, disk-shaped test, or shell, made of firmly united plates lying j...

Stegosaurus

(Encyclopedia)Stegosaurus stĕgəsôrˈəs [key] [Gr.,=roof lizard], quadriped ornithischian dinosaur of the late Jurassic period. About 29 ft 6 in (9 m) long, it had short forelegs, four long bony spikes on a flex...

caecilian

(Encyclopedia)caecilian sēsĭlˈēən [key], any of the legless, tailless tropical amphibians belonging to the order Gymnophiona (or Apoda). Most adult caecilians resemble earthworms superficially but have vertebr...

bonsai

(Encyclopedia)bonsai bōnˈsī [key], art of cultivating dwarf trees in containers. Bonsai, developed by the Japanese more than a thousand years ago, is derived from the Chinese practice of growing miniature plants...

modello

(Encyclopedia)modello mōdĕlˈlō [key], small plan of a major work presented by Renaissance and baroque artists to the patron who commissioned the work. The modello was intended to show the patron how the finishe...

Martaban, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Martaban, Gulf of märtəbănˈ, –bänˈ [key], arm of the Andaman Sea, indenting S Myanmar and receiving the waters of the Sittaung and Thanlwin (Salween) rivers. The small port of Mottama (formerl...

Aulis

(Encyclopedia)Aulis ôˈlĭs [key], small port of ancient Greece, in Boeotia, E central Greece. From there the Greek fleet sailed against Troy after the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Its ancient temple of Artemis is in r...

Îles du Salut

(Encyclopedia)Îles du Salut ēl dü sälüˈ [key] or Safety Islands, small archipelago, off French Guiana in the Caribbean. The best-known of the islands is Devils Island. ...

Japurá

(Encyclopedia)Japurá zhəpo͞oräˈ [key], river, c.1,750 mi (2,815 km) long, rising as the Caquetá in the Andes, SW Colombia. It flows SE into Brazil, where it is called the Japurá, and enters the Amazon throug...

Duck Lake

(Encyclopedia)Duck Lake, small lake, central Sask., Canada, SW of Prince Albert. It was the scene of the first encounter in Riel's Rebellion (see under Riel, Louis) in 1885. A large group of Métis (persons of mixe...