Fosse

(fös.) (From L. fo io, a delving.] (Fort.) Aditch or moat, commonly filled with water, lying between the scarp and the counter-scarp.-(Anat.) A kind of depre ion or cavity in a bone, with a large aperture, but no exit or perforation. Fo ils, (fos's ilz.) [Same der iv.] (Nat. Hist.) The remains of ancient organic bodies discovered in the earth. They are usually converted entirely into stone, all the animal matter having been removed. The substituted material is in some cases siler, in others lime. Of vertebrate animals, not only have the bones and teeth been preserved in this way, but their footprints have been retained for our inspection. Shells are the most abundant forms of animal remains. Sometimes only the impre ion of the external surface is left; at others, only that of the internal surface, leaving a cast or mould; and occasionally the space between the outer and inner surfaces having been left vacant by the gradual destruction of the shell, it has been afterwards filled up by the infiltration of another substance, and thus an accurate representation of both the exterior and interior surfaces is obtained. As to vegetable remains, there is often only an impre ion of the exterior, sometimes the vegetable matter itself is preserved as carbon, and at others the vegetable is converted into mineral matter. The dept. of geology which relates to fo ils is termed Palæontology (q. v.). [s. 378]