Part 695

Pyc`nas*pid"e*an (?), a. [Gr. &?; thick, crowded + &?;, &?;, a shield.] (Zoˆl.) Having the posterior side of the tarsus covered with small irregular scales; -- said of certain birds.

||Pyc*nid"i*um (?), n.; pl. Pycnidia (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?; crowded.] ||(Bot.) In certain fungi, a flask-shaped cavity from the surface of ||the inner walls of which spores are produced.

Pyc"nite (?), n. [Gr. &?; thick.] (Min.) A massive subcolumnar variety of topaz.

Pyc"no*dont (?), n. [Gr. &?; thick, crowded + &?;, &?;, a tooth.] (Paleon.) Any fossil fish belonging to the Pycnodontini. They have numerous round, flat teeth, adapted for crushing.

||Pyc`no*don"ti*ni (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Zoˆl.) An extinct order of ganoid ||fishes. They had a compressed body, covered with dermal ribs ||(pleurolepida) and with enameled rhomboidal scales.

Pyc*nog"o*nid (?), n. (Zoˆl.) One of the Pycnogonida.

||Pyc`no*gon"i*da (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; thick crowded + &?; ||knee.] (Zoˆl.) A class of marine arthropods in which the body is ||small and thin, and the eight legs usually very long; -- called also ||Pantopoda.

The abdomen is rudimentary, and the triangular mouth is at the end of a tubular proboscis. Many of them live at great depths in the sea, and the largest of them measure two feet across the extended legs.

Pyc*nom"e*ter (?), n. [Gr. &?; dense, compact + -meter.] (Physics) A specific gravity bottle; a standard flask for measuring and comparing the densities of liquids. [Also written pyknometer.]

Pyc"no*style (?), a. [Gr. &?; with the pillars close together; &?; close + &?; a column, pillar: cf. F. pycnostyle.] (Anc. Arch.) See under Intercolumniation. -n. A pycnostyle colonnade.

Pye (?), n. See 2d Pie (b).

Pye"bald` (?), a. See Piebald.

||Py`e*li"tis (?). n. [Gr. basin + - itis.] (Med.) Inflammation of the ||pelvis of the kidney.

Py*e"mi*a (?), n. (Med.) See Py∆mia.

Py"et (?), n. A magpie; a piet. [Prov. Eng.]

Here cometh the worthy prelate as pert as a pyet.

Sir W. Scott.

Py"gal (?), a. [Gr. &?; the rump.] (Anat.) Situated in the region of the rump, or posterior end of the backbone; -- applied especially to the posterior median plates in the carapace of chelonians.

{ Py"garg (?), ||Py*gar"gus (?), }[L. pygargus, Gr. &?;, literally, white rump; &?; the rump + white: cf. F. pygargue.] 1. (Zoˆl.) A quadruped, probably the addax, an antelope having a white rump. Deut. xiv. 5.

2. (Zoˆl.) (a) The female of the hen harrier. (b) The sea eagle.

||Py*gid"i*um (?), n.; pl. Pygidia (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, dim. of &?; ||the rump.] (Zoˆl.) The caudal plate of trilobites, crustacean, and ||certain insects. See Illust. of Limulus and Trilobite.

{ Pyg"my (?), Pyg*me"an (?), } a. [L. pygmaeus. See Pygmy.] Of or pertaining to a pygmy; resembling a pygmy or dwarf; dwarfish; very small. " Like that Pygmean race." Milton.

Pygmy antelope (Zoˆl.), the kleeneboc. -- Pygmy goose (Zoˆl.), any species of very small geese of the genus Nettapus, native of Africa, India, and Australia. -- Pygmy owl (Zoˆl.), the gnome. -- Pygmy parrot (Zoˆl.), any one of several species of very small green parrots (NasiternÊ), native of New Guinea and adjacent islands. They are not larger than sparrows.

Pyg"my, n.; pl. Pygmies (#). [L. pygmaeus, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; the fist, a measure of length, the distance from the elbow to the knuckles, about 131 inches. Cf. Pugnacious, Fist.] [Written also pigmy.] 1. (Class. Myth.) One of a fabulous race of dwarfs who waged war with the cranes, and were destroyed.

2. Hence, a short, insignificant person; a dwarf.

Pygmies are pygmies still, though perched on Alps. And pyramids are pyramids in vales.

Young.

||Py`go*bran"chi*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. pugh` the rump + &?; a ||gill.] (Zoˆl.) A division of opisthobranchiate mollusks having the ||branchiÊ in a wreath or group around the anal opening, as in the ||genus Doris.