scalariform (ska lari form)

[L. scalar i a, a flight of steps (neut. pl. of scalar is, of or pertaining to a ladder or a flight of steps: see sca lar), + form a, form.] 1. Shaped like a ladder; resembling a ladder. Specifically-(a) In entom., not ing the venules or small cro -veins of an insect's wings when they are perpendicular to the longitudinal veins and placed at regular distances, like the rounds of a ladder. (b) bot., noting cells or ve els in which the walls are thickened in such a way as to form transverse ridges. These ridges, or alternating thick and thin places, follow each other with as much regularity as the rounds of a ladder. 2. In conch., resembling or related to Scalar i a; scalar i an. Scalariform conjugation, in fresh-water algæ, conjugation between several cells of two different filaments, when the two lie very near one another side by side. Each cell of each filament sends out a short pro tube rance on the side facing the other filament. When the membrane of Rei ner. - Scala tympani, that part of the spiral canal of the cochlea which is on the under side of the spiral lamina, and is separated from the scala media by the basilar membrane. It communicates with the scala vestibuli at the apex of the modiolus, and is separated from tympanum, in the recent state, by the membrane ering the fenestra rotunda. - Scala vestibuli, one of the three pa ages of the spiral canal of the cochlea, separated from the cochlear canal by the membrane of Rei ner. It begins at the vestibule, and communicates at the apex of the modiolus with the scala tympani. Also called ves tibular pa age.