mallet flower (maletflou"er)

Any plant of the genus Tupistra. 3596 tilage, in any way distinguished from the rest of the mandibular arch. In man and other mammals the malleus is separately o ified, and is the outer one of the three bonelets or o icles of the ear lodged in the cavity of the tympanum, connected with the ear-drum or tympanic membrane, and movably articulated with the incus. It is named from its hammer-like shape in man, having a head, neck, and handle or short proce , together with a proce us gracilis, which lies in the Glaserian fi ure. As one of the o icula audit us, the malleus subserves the function of hearing in mammals. In birds, and many other vertebrates below mammals, the malleus has a very different office, that of forming part of the suspensorium of the lower jaw, which is its true morphological character. Its specialization in Mammal i a is peculiar to that cla . See Mallei fer a, and cuts under hyoid, ear, and tym panic. 2. In ichth., one of the Weberian o icles which form a chain between the air-bladder and the auditory apparatus in the skull of plectospondylous and nematognathous fishes. It is homologous with the hem apophysis of the third one of the coalesced anterior vertebræ.-3. In rotifers, one of the paired calcareous structures within the pharynx. In the typical forms it is a ham mer-like body, consisting of an upper part or head, called the incus, and a lower part or handle, named the manu brium, but in other forms the distinction disappears. 4. [ cap.] In conch., a genus of pearl-oysters of the family Aviculida, founded by Lamarck in 1799; the hammer-shells. They have a long-winged hinge at right angles with the length of the valve, giving a hammer-like shape, whence the name. Young shells are like those of Avicula or wing-shells, and have a by al notch; the hammer shape is gradually acquired with age. M. vulgar is, the hammer-oyster, inhabits Eastern seas. See cut under hammer -shell. 5. Same as war - hammer. mallinders (mal'in-dėrz), n. pl. Same as mal anders. Mallophaga (ma-lof'a-ga), n. pl. [NL., neut. pl. of mallophagus: see mallophagous.] A group of ametabolous apterous parasitic insects with mandibulate mouth-parts and coalesced me so metathorax, jointed antennæ and palpi, superior spiracles, and short stout legs ending in hooked claws. They are known as bird - lice, and are very numerous and diversiform. By some they are re garded as Hemipter a degraded and distorted by paras it and placed the true lice in a group Paras it a or Anoplura; by others they are held to constitute a super family or suborder of Pseudo neuroptera, and by others again a suborder of Corrodent i a. See lousel. mallophagan (ma-lof'a-gan), a. and n. [ Mallophagidæ (mal-o-faj'i-dē), n. pl. [NL., Mallophaga + -ida.] The mallophagous insects regarded as a family of Pseudo neuroptera, and corresponding to the suborder Mallophaga. They differ from true lice in having mandibulate instead of suctorial mouth-parts, and in other respects. Most of them live on the plumage of birds, whence the name bird lice for the whole of them; but some also infest the pelage of mammals. Some are great pests of the poultry yard and aviary. The genera are numerous, including Nirmus, Trichodectes, and Goniodes.