vibrio nine (vibrion in)

[ vibri a , vibri a (vi-bris'ä), n.; pl. vibri æ (-6). [NL., pri a, usually in pl. pl. vibri æ, the hairs in the nostrils.] nostrils.] 1. In mammal., one of the long, stiff bristles which grow upon the upper lip and elsewhere upon the head of most mammals; a whisker, as of a cat. They are tactile organs, or feelers, and are sometimes called tactile hairs ( pili tactiles). There is a popular notion that the whiskers reach out just far enough on each side to enable the animal to judge whether a hole or other close pa age is large enough for it to pa through, and very probably this is true in many cases. See cuts under mouse, ocelot, panther, serval, tiger, and tiger -cat. 2. In ornith., a rictal bristle; one of the special set of long, slender, bristle-like or bristly feathers, devoid of vexilla proper, which grow in a series along each side of the rictus or gape of the mouth of many birds, as flycatchers, goatsuckers, and others. When very long, as in the goatsucker, they are sometimes called vibri æ pectin atæ, and may have lateral filaments, as in the chuck-will's widow. The use of the vibri æ is supposed to be to entangle the legs and wings of insects, and thus diminish or prevent their struggling when caught, as the bristles are observed to be specially well developed in insectivorous birds which take their prey on the wing. See cuts under Platyrhynchus, flycatcher, goatsucker, and whippoorwill. 3. In human an at., one of the hairs which grow in the nostrils.-4. In entom., one of the projecting lateral bristles on the upper border of the per is tomium or mouth-cavity of certain Diptera.