Elæodendron (eloodendron)

[NL., IMG:content-0268.jpg:[blocks in formation] or setose, and the connate elytra partly em bracing the body: so called from the oily fluid discharged by the insects when irritated. There are about 50 species, all of the United States, where they take the place of the species of Blaps in the old world. E. obscura and E. gigantea are examples; the latter is 11 inches long. The fluid, as in Blaps, is secreted by two glands near the anus, and is sometimes ejected to a dis tance of three or four inches. It has a penetrating and elæodochon (el-e-od'ō-kon), n.; pl. elæodocha (-kā). [ indescribably offensive odor. Also spelled Eleodes. It is composed of numerous slender tubes or follicles, which secrete the greasy fluid, and the ducts of which, uniting succe ively in larger tubes, finally open by one or more pores, commonly upon a little nipple-like elevation. Birds pre out a drop of oil with the beak, and dre the feathers with it, in the operation called preen ing. The gland is large and present in aquatic birds, which have need of a water proof plumage; it is IMG:content-0269.jpg:[blocks in formation] smaller in land-birds, as a rule, and wanting in some. The character of the elæodochon, whether it be bare or surmounted by a circlet of feathers, distinguishes various natural groups of birds. elæolite (e-lē'ō-līt), n. [