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Tabanus is a genus of blood sucking flies, including the horseflies and Cleg.
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Tachinus is a genus of rove beetles, Staphylinidae with fourteen British species distinguished by protuberances and spines on the terminal abdominal segment.
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Tachyglossidae is the echidnas family of mammals.
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Tachyporus is a genus of rove beetles, Staphylinidae with a sharp pointed abdomen. There are thirteen British species, found in ground litter.
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Tachys is a genus of beetles of the ground beetle family, Carabidae, six species of which live in Britain. Most are brown or have a dark coloured body, live beside water, and are among the smallest of the ground beetles measuring just two to three millimetres in length.
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Tachyta is a genus of beetles of the ground beetle family, Carabidae, related to the Tachys genus, but with different habits, living under bark rather than beside water.
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Tachyusa is a genus of rove beetles, Staphylinidae. There are six British species of the genus, which scuttle about beside water and on wet ground with an uptilted abdomen.
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Taenia is a genus of tapeworms (Cestoda).
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A tag is a two-year old doe.
A tag is a sheep less than one year old.
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The Tahaleb (Vulpes Niloticus) is a species of fox found in North Africa.
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The Tahiti apple or Otaheite apple (Spondias dulcis) is a tree of the family Anacardiaceae native to the Society Islands, Friendly Islands and Fiji. The leaves are divided into elliptic leaflets arranged featherwise with rounded teeth. The flowers are small, yellow-green coloured clustered flowers followed by an edible fruit which tastes like pineapple, and looks like a large, golden-yellow coloured plum containing a stone covered with hooked bristles.
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A tail is the prolongation of the back-bone in vertebrate animals. It is a portion of the body containing no viscera but consisting solely of bone and muscle. Tails are organs of locomotion in fishes, serve as grasping organs in some monkeys, are weapons of defence in some animals, of offence in some other animals and serve as balancers in some other animals such as kangaroos.
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Tail coverts are the feathers which cover the bases of the tail quills. They are sometimes much longer than the quills, and form elegant plumes. Those above the quills are called the upper tail coverts, and those below, the under tail coverts.
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The tailor bird is the popular name for any one of numerous species of small Asiatic and East Indian singing birds belonging to the genera Orthotomus, Prinia, and allied genera. They are noted for the skill with which they sew leaves together to form nests. The common Indian species are Orthotomus longicauda, which has the back, scapulars, and upper tail coverts yellowish green, and the under parts white; and the golden-headed tailor bird (Orthotomus coronatus), which has the top of the head golden yellow and the back and wings pale olive-green.
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The taipan is a type of small headed cobra.
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The takin (Budorcas taxicolor) is a large, shaggy, horned, ruminant mammal related to the musk ox and native to Tibet, Bhutan and northern Burma where they live in small herds in the mountains. The takin stands about one metre tall at the shoulder and has very stout limbs and thick black horns which curve at first outwards and then backwards.
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The talbot was a large, whitish hound with long hanging ears and heavy jaws bred for tacking and hunting. It is believed that the talbot was the forerunner of the modern bloodhound.
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The Talipot Palm (Corypha umbraculifera) is a tree of the natural order Palmaceae native of southern India and Sri Lanka. The trunk of the Talipot Palm grows to about 30 metres long. The leaves are circular, about 3.5 metres in diameter, thrown into plaits, and the margin cut into points. The leaf stalk is about 1.8 metres long and is armed with tooth-like spines.
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The tallow tree (Pentadesma butyracea) is a tree native of tropical Africa from whence it was introduced into Britain in 1822. It is a member of the family Guttiferae and bears large brilliant red flowers, followed by edible, buttery berries. It is so called on account of a kind of tallow-like oil obtained from the seeds.
The tallow tree (Excaecaria sebifera) is a tree of the natural order Euphorbiaceae native of China It has alternate, oval leaves with a pair of prominent glands at the top of the leaf stalk, and the rudimentary greenish-flowers are massed in catkin-like spikes. The largish capsules contain three seeds coated with a substance like tallow which was used by the Chinese for making candles. The seeds yield an oil when pressed, the leaves a black dye, and the timber is hard and used for engraving printing blocks.
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Talpidae is a family of mammals belonging to the order Insectivora.
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Tamaricaceae is a small family of polypetalous exogens. The species are either herbs or shrubs, inhabiting chiefly the basin of the Mediterranean. They have minute alternate simple leaves and usually small white or pink flowers in terminal spikes.
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The tamarin are South American monkeys. They are active and restless animals feeding on fruit, insects, and small animals, and sleeping in tree holes, which provide protection from predators and facilitate heat conservation. Tamarins generally live in undisturbed rain forests, which are becoming more scarce and endangering their existence.
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Tamarind (Tamarinda indica) is a tropical evergreen tree of the Leguminosae family native to the east and west Indies. The tamarind grows to a height of 18 metres and has flowers that are borne in loose racemes and are yellow with red markings, succeeded by bean-like pods, seven to fifteen centimetres long. The pods are brittle and filled with an acid pulp in which are hard seeds. The pod is used as a laxative medicine. The bark of the tamarind is used in cases of dysentery and as a tonic. A yellow dye is obtained from the leaves.
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The Tamarisk is a plant of the genus Tamarix, family Tamariscinaceae. It is a graceful evergreen shrub or small tree with slender feathery branches and minute leaves native to the shores of south-west Europe and western Asia, and also found wild as an immigrant in south and eastern England.
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The Tamworth is a copper-coloured English breed of pig with a strong coat. It produces lean meat.
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The tanagers (Tanagridae) are a family of American Passerine birds closely allied to the finches.
Tanagers are usually beautifully coloured, the female being duller in tint than the male. The diet consists largely of insects and fruits. The song is sweet, and the birds are bold and lively, and generally finch-like in habits.
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Tanaidacea is a marine order of Malacostraca with a reduced carapace and a short abdomen.
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The tangerine (Citrus reticulata) is a small, flattened, deep-coloured, sweet-scented variety of mandarin of the family Rutaceae, from Tangier.
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Tangle Seaweed (Laminaria digitata), or Sea Girldes, is a common, large British seaweed of the natural order Laminariaceae. It attaches to maritime rocks below ordinary low tides and has a solid stem as much as 180 cm in length and from two to five centimetres thick. The thick, leathery frond is between 180 and 240 cm long, olive in colour and cut into broad segments, and like other members of the order is thrown off annually.
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The tank-worm is a nematode worm found in mud in water tanks in India.
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Tanrec (Centetes) is a genus of insectivorous mammals resembling the European hedgehog in appearance. They are found in Madagascar where they live in burrows excavated with their strong claws.
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Tansy (Tanacetum) is a genus of perennial herbs of the family Compositae. They have an erect, angled, almost hairless stem, usually reddish and branched at the top. The alternate dark-green leaves are pinnately lobed and toothed. The terminal, rayless, button-like flowerheads are made up of short, tubular, yellow florets and are arranged in dense flat-topped corymbs. The fruit is a greenish-white ribbed achene.
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Tantalus is a genus of wading birds of the heron family.
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Tanymecus is a genus of Snout Beetles (Curculionidae).
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Tap root is the name given to the primary root of most dicotyledonous plants. It is the continuation of the stem below the cotyledons, and from it the secondary or lateral roots arise. In many plants the tap root acts as a storehouse of food, becoming thickened and round, as in the turnip, or conical as in the carrot.
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The Tapestry Moth (Trichophaga tapetzella) is a moth of the family Tineidae with a wing span of between 12 and 22 mm seen flying from May to August. The larvae feed on old woollen fabrics and clothes in storehouses, lofts and attics.
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The tapetum is the irregular sector in certain animal's eyes which shines owing to an absence of black pigment.
Tapetum is found in the eyes of cats.
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Tapioca (Manihot utilissina) is a perennial herb of the order Euphorbiaceae native to South America. It has a thick, fleshy spindle-shaped rootstock, from which arise knotted stems bearing alternate leaves which are deeply divided, resembling fingers, into seven lance-shaped lobes. Tapioca has yellowish flowers, the different sex flowers being separate. From the root is derived the food stuffs tapioca and cassareep.
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Tapir is the name of four species of ungulate or hoofed animals forming the family Tapiridae. The nose resembles a short fleshy proboscis. There are four toes to the fore- feet and three to the hind-feet. The body is bulky and clumsy and the legs short. The animals are always found in forest regions, in the vicinity of water, and are nocturnal in their habits and shy and inoffensive. The Malaysian Tapir (Tapirus indicus) is the largest of the species of tapir, and is endangered - due to the destruction of its forest habitat - and found in south-east Asia where it lives in dense tropical forests close to water feeding on shoots, twigs and aquatic plants. The Malaysian tapir is black, with a large expanse of white extending from behind the front legs, over the back and sides to the top of the rump.
Tapirs are related to the horse and rhinoceros, but are believed by many to be related to pigs, probably because of their appearance, and as such are not hunted for food by Muslim natives.
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The Tara Fern is a species of fern found in New Zealand. The Maoris obtained a flour from its root which formed a staple part of their diet prior to British settlement.
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The tarantula is a large black south European wolf spider of the genus Lycosa, especially Lycosa tarantula, common near Taranto, Italy from whence it is named, with a slightly poisonous bite. The term is also popularly applied to various other large, especially hairy spiders from Africa and America.
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Taraxacum is a genus of herbaceous plants belonging to the family Compositae. The common dandelion is Taraxacum officinalis.
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Tarbosaurus was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. A carnivore related to Tyrannosaurus, Tarbosaurus was lighter and about fourteen metres long and walked on its hind legs. The head was long and armed with twenty-seven curved, knife-like teeth along the upper jaw. The jaws were deep and connected to strong muscles. Each very short arm was furnished with two fingers. The feet had three forward pointing toes and a fourth, small rearward pointing toe. Remains of
Tarbosaurus have been found in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, first in the 1950's.
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Tare or common vetch (Vicia sativa) is a leguminous plant of creeping habit, furnished with tendrils, and largely cultivated for fodder. It is indigenous to Britain.
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Taro, also known as Tara or Kalo (Colocasia antiquorum) is a herb of the arum family, natural order Araceae, cultivated in Pacific islands and the Caribbean for its starchy, edible root and leaves (callaloo). Taro has a large tuberous rootstock from which large oval, heart-shaped leaves spring direct. The entire plant is very acrid, but the acrid taste is removed by boiling. The uncooked leaves are poisonous, but after boiling may be eaten like spinach and are known as callaloo.
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The Tarpan is a now extinct breed of wild pony formerly found in eastern Europe and Asia until the end of the 19th century. During the Middle Ages they were hunted as game animals for their meat. The present day Tarpan is a re-constructed breed based on the Konik and the Hucul, resembling the ancient
Tarpan, but not the same.
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The tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) is a large silvery marine fish of the order Teleostei found in the warmer waters of the western south Atlantic where it enters rives in pursuit of mullet. The tarpon resembles a huge herring in form and colour and reaches a length of two metres and a weight of almost 50 kg. From the hinder part of the dorsal fin there is a long streaming thread-like extension. Tarpon are pursued as a game fish by anglers in the Gulf of Florida where it is caught with rod and line.
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Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) is a perennial herb of the daisy family, native to the Mediterranean countries. It has a rhizome, erect leafy stems and alternate green, entire, linear to lanceolate leaves. The flower heads are yellow, globose and rayless and are arranged in long, loose terminal panicles. The fruit is a cylindrical achene without a pappus. Tarragon is widely cultivated as a culinary herb, and used to a lesser extent in medicine as an aid to digestion and as a general tonic.
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The tarsier (Tarsius) is a genus of mammals of the lemur family, native to Borneo, Sumatra and the surrounding area. It is about the size of a squirrel, fawn brown in colour with remarkably large eyes, large ears and a long tufted tail. The tarsier is a tree dwelling animal and eats lizards.
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The Tasmanian devil (Dasyurus ursinus, Diabolus ursinus or Sarcophilus ursinus) is a strongly built nocturnal mammal of the Dasyure (bush-tailed opposums) family, closely related to the thylacine and like it confined to the island of Tasmania. The head is disproportionately large, and the plantigrade feet and general build give the animal a resemblance to a small bear. Carnivorous in habit and very strong, the Tasmanian devil will attack any kind of animal and can easily overpower a sheep. The Tasmanian devil lives in a burrow and is fierce and untameable. Between three and five young are produced at time. The name Tasmanian devil was originally given to the animal by British settlers at Hobart following persistent raids upon their poultry by the animals.
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Tasmannia is a genus of one Tasmanian and two Australian shrubs of the family Magnoliaceae.
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The tatouay is a kind of armadillo remarkable for the undefended state of its tail which is devoid of the bony rings that enclose it in other armadillos.
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The Tau Emperor (Aglia tau) is a moth of the family Saturniidae (although due to certain morphological differences with the true Emperor moths, some naturalists class the species in a family of its own) with a wing span of between 50 and 65 mm found in deciduous forests in the entire Palaearctic except Britain. The moths fly during April or later in mountainous regions.
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The tautog (Tautoga nigra) or black-fish is an American fish found on the coast of New England and valued as a food.
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The Tawny Marbled Minor (Oligia latruncula) is a moth of the family Noctuidae with a wing span of between 20 and 24 mm found in northern and central Europe and Asia, flying from May to July.
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The Tawny Speckled Pug (Eupithecia icterata) is a moth of the family Geometridae with a wing span of between 20 and 23 mm found in Europe and Asia flying from June to September.
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The Tawny Wave (Scopula rubiginata) is a moth of the family Geometridae with a wing span of between 15 and 20 mm found in Europe, Asia and Asia Minor flying from May to September.
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The Tawny-barred Angle (Semiothisa liturata) is a moth of the family Geometridae with a wing span of between 22 and 27 mm found throughout the Palaearctic flying from April to August in coniferous forests.
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Taxaceae is a sub-family of Coniferae which includes the Yew tree.
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Taxicera is a genus of rove beetles, Staphylinidae, formerly regarded as a subgenus of Atheta.
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Taxodium is a genus of hardy and half-hardy trees of the family Coniferae, native to the USA from whence they were introduced into Britain in 1640. They bear deciduous leaves in summer and monoecious flowers. The genus includes the cypresses.
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Tayassuidae is a pig-like family of animals of the order Artiodactyla, that are found in the south-western USA, south to central Argentina. The head and body length ranges between 7.5 centimetres and 11 centimetres and the tail, which only has from six to nine vertebrae, ranges from 15 to 102 mm. Peccaries are covered with coarse greyish or brownish fur, and all species have contrasting areas of white or yellowish fur on their chests, backs, or faces. Each of the three species is currently placed in its own genus: Catagonus wagneri, Pecari tajacu and Tayassu pecari.
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The tayra (Galera barbara) is a South American carnivorous animal allied to the glutton. It is black in colour with a large white patch on the breast.
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Tea is an evergreen Rosaceae. The infusion of the dried leaves is a popular beverage. It was introduced to England during the 17th century.
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Tea Rose is a name given to a class of perpetual or autumnal roses. They are mostly hybrids of Rosa indica, and the name is derived from their scent.
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Teak (Tectona grandis) is a tropical Asian timber tree of the family Verbenaceae.
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The teal (Nettion crecca) is a small British duck of the genus Querquedula. It is a fresh water form of duck, feeding mainly at night. It has a chestnut coloured head with a green eye patch. The upper surface is marked with black and white and the speculum is black, green and purple.
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Team is the collective noun for a group of ducks in flight.
Team is the collective noun for a group of oxen.
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The teasel is a plant of the genus Dipsacus, family Dipsacceae. It is a herb with prickly leaves and flower heads. The British Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) is also known as Comb and Brush and Venus' Basin. The name teasel comes from the former use of the prickly heads for raising the nap of newly woven cloth. Formerly, water which collected in the leaves was used as an eye wash and to cure warts, hence the alternative name of Venus' Basin.
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Tecoma is a genus of evergreen plants of the family Bignoniaceae, native to the sub-tropical regions. They are trees or shrubs or climbing plants with unequally pinnate or digitate simple leaves, and terminal panicles of dusky red or orange flowers. The Tecoma differ from the bigonias chiefly in their lack of tendrils.
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Tectibranchiata is a division of gastropodous mollusca with gills protected by the shell or the mantle, as with the sea-hare.
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Teff (Eragrostis abyssinica) is a grain with seeds about the size of those of millet.
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Tegenaria is a genus of largish spiders found in Britain of the family Agelenidae. They are typically about 12 to 15 mm long, with long legs and a brown and black, patterned body. They spend most of their time waiting on their web, rushing into their retreat when danger threatens. However, during the late summer and early autumn they may be seen running across the carpet ina house, or trapped in the bath when they have been seeking a mate. The males live with their mate for several weeks befiore dying of old age, and then their body being eaten by the female. The female remains with her eggs until they hatch and the spiderlings emerge and disperse.
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The teguexin (Tejus teguexin) is a species of lizard inhabiting tropical South America. They grow to around 150cm long and can swim with ease and rapidity. They are coloured blackish above, and marked with yellowish spots of various sizes. They feed upon fruits, insects, reptiles, young birds, and birds' eggs.
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The teledu (Mydaus meliceps) or stinking badger is a carnivore allied to the badger found in Java and Sumatra. It is noted for the very offensive odour that it emits, somewhat resembling that of a skunk. It has long, silky fur.
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Teleostei is a large sub-class of fish distinguished by a bony skeleton.
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Telmatophilus is a genus of beetle of the family Cryptophagidae.
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Telosporidia are a subclass of Sporozoa. They have a trophic stage which is distinct from the reproductive phase.
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The Ten Spot Ladybird (Adalia decempunctata) is a species of ladybird found in Britain and Europe.
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The tench (Tinca tinca) is a freshwater fish of the carp family. It is found all over Europe in standing water, especially where the bottom is muddy. The scales are small and the skin thick; there is a pair of barbells; the lateral line is complete, and the tail-fin is slightly emarginate. Tench always keep near the bottom and bury themselves in the mud on the approach of winter. They are exceedingly prolific and are sufficiently hardy to tolerate transport.
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A tendril is a slender, thread-like organ or appendage of a plant which stretches out and attaches itself to some other object so as to support the plant. Tendrils may represent the end of a stem, as in the grapevine; an axillary branch, as in the passion flower; stipules, as in the genus Smilax; or the end of a leaf, as in the pea.
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Tenebrio is the Meal-worm genus of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae). They are about fifteen millimetres long and are a pest of cereals, flour and flour products. The easy to breed larvae are used as small animal feed.
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Tenebrioides is a genus of beetle of the family Trogossitidae.
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Tenebrionidae is the darkling beetles family of insects of the order Coleoptera.
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The Tennessee Walking Horse is an American breed of horse developed during the 19th century in Tennessee in response to the need for a stylish horse suitable for riding by all members of the family, working in the harness, and which could be ridden long distances. The Tennessee Walking Horse typically has three comfortable gaits: flat walk, running walk and a smooth rolling canter. The
Tennessee Walking Horse stands between 15 and 16 hands high and is any solid colour.
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The Tenrec (Centetes) is a genus of small mammals native to Madagascar and resembling the hedgehogs in appearance and habits. The Tenrec are about 35 cm long, brown in colour, and are clothed in a mix of hair and spiny bristles. They have long pointed muzzles and rudimentary tails. The Tenrec feed on insects, beetles and frogs.
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Tenrecidae is a family of mammals belonging to the order Insectivora.
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Tenthredinoidea is a super-family of insects of the sub-order Symphyta, order Hymenoptera. The antennae have various numbers of segments ranging from three to eighteen or more depending upon genus.
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Tenuirostres (slender-beaked) is a section of the Insessores order of birds containing those species with a long slender, tapering beak.
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Terebratula (the lampshells) are a deep-sea genus of Phylum Brachiopoda.
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Teredo (the shipworms) is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs. The Teredo are a worm-like animal with a helmet-shaped shell fitted with small, gaping valves. The Teredo grow to about 30 cm long, with almost all the length unprotected by the shell, but instead covered by a chalky tube. The Teredo burrows into submerged timber, and a British species, teredo navalis was a major pest of wooden navies in times gone by. Other species prefer stationary timber such as piers. The burrow is used as a retreat and the Teredo feed upon minute organisms filtered in through a siphon.
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Termites (Termitidae) are a social insect of the order Isoptera. They are chiefly found in tropical climates and are very destructive to timber.
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The tern is a sea bird, especially those of the genus Sterna. They resemble a gull, but are usually smaller and with a more slender body. Terns have long, pointer wings and a forked tail giving rise to their alternative name of the sea-swallow.
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Ternstroemiaceae is a family of polypetalous dicotyledonous plants consisting of trees or shrubs with alternate simple usually coriaceous leaves without stipules. The flowers are generally white, arranged in axillary or terminal peduncles, articulated at the base.
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The name terrapin is applied to various water tortoises of the family Testudinidae, and is particularly applied to Malacoclemmys terrapin, a native of the salt-marshes of the east coast of the USA. The terrapin is an omnivorous feeder reaching about 20 cm in length in the female and 12 cm in the male. The carapace (upper shell) is keeled along the central line and is of a brownish greenish tint with dirk concentric lines. The plastron (lower shell) is yellow in colour.
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The Tersk is a Russian breed of horse noted for its endurance and often used a competition horse, often racing and beating Arabian Horses. Energetic and bold, they are ideally suited to show jumping and eventing. The Tersk stands 15 hands high and is mostly grey in colour and occasionally chestnut.
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Testacea refers to an invertebrate animal having a shell.
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The testes are the male gonads.
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Tetradactyl is a term applied to any animal or bird with four fingers or toes.
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Tetragnatha is a genus of long-legged spider. Tetragnatha extensa is a common and widespread British species found in damp meadows and hedgerows.
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Tetraonidae is the Partridge and Grouse family of birds of the order Gallinae. They are characterized by the hind toe placed higher than the others, short and weak, or altogether wanting. The tarsi are generally spurred. The tail is short and of twelve feathers or more.
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Tetrapod is the family of four legged vertebrates. It includes birds because wings developed from legs.
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Tetropium is a genus of longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) with one British species - Tetropium castaneum. The larvae live in the sap wood of conifers where they eat out large irregular passages. They are a pest to forests, since they destroy the host tree.
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Tetrops is a genus of longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) the larvae of which develop in the dry branches of fruit trees and other deciduous trees.
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The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle.
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The Thalamophora are an order of Rhizopoda. They are amoeboid forms protected by a shell. There are apertures in the shell through which the pseudopodia extend.
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In botany, the thalamus is the receptacle or terminal part of the axis of a flower. Sometimes the thalamus extends beyond the carpels as a fleshy mass, as in the strawberry; or as a cone round which the fleshy carpels cluster, as in the raspberry; or as a beak as in geraniums.
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Thalassophilus is a genus of beetles of the ground beetle family, Carabidae.
Thalassophilus longicornis is a rare species found in Britain and Europe living in the gravel on the banks of streams and rivers mostly in mountainous areas. It ranges from 3 to 5 mm long.
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Thalictrum is a genus of hardy herbaceous plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. They usually bear panicles of small flowers, with four or five petaloid sepals and no corolla.
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A thallophyte is a plant with a thallus body, such as seaweed or liverwort.
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A thallus is the body of a primitive plant which is not divided into leaves, stem and roots but consists of a more or less uniform tissue.
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Thalycra is a genus of sap-beetle (Nitidulidae).
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Thanasimus is a genus of chequered beetles of the family Cleridae, the genus including Thanasimus formicarius (the Ant Beetle). They are found in woodlands feeding on the bark beetle (Tomicus piniperda).
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Thanatophilus is a genus of beetles of the carrion beetle, Silphidae, family.
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Thaumetopoeidae is the processionary moths family of insects of the order Lepidoptera. There are about eighty species in the family, of which only a few live in Europe. The members are characterised by one pair of spurs on the hind tibiae, and the body tufted with hairs. The mouthparts are degenerate, the antennae pectinate and the caterpillars live gregariously.
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Thecodontosaurus was a dinosaur of the Triassic period. Remains of
Thecodontosaurus have been discovered in south-west England since the 1840's. It was a small dinosaur, about two metres long, with a long neck and tail.
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Therizinosaurus was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. Remains of
Therizinosaurus have been found in the Gobi Desert since 1954, but are only partial and include a large arm with a single curved claw. It is thought that
Therizinosaurus was a carnivore that walked on its hind legs and was about twelve metres long.
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Thermotaxis is the physiology term for the regulation of an organisms body heat.
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Thiasophila is a genus of rove beetles, Staphylinidae, represented by two British species which live in ants' nests.
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Thicket is the collective noun for a group of trees. A thicket is a dense growth of shrubs, bushes or small trees forming a thick coppice.
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Thistle is a name popularly applied to many prickly plants, but is strictly applied to those of the genus Carduus, of the family Compositae. Members of the Carduus genus are perennial or biennial herbs, forming large rosettes of spiny leaves the first year, and developing prickly stems the second year. The flowers are small, red or purple in colour, tubular, massed in an oval or roundish head, which is invested in over-lapping, rigid and spiny bracts. The seeds each have a tuft of silky hairs, known as thistledown, attached to them which allow for wind distribution.
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Thornapple (Datura stramonium) also known as thorn apple or jimsonweed is a highly poisonous annual herb of the family Solanaceae with a robust branched leafy stem and alternate leaves which are pointed oval with incurving, coarsely toothed margins. the flowers are white or tinged with violet, large, erect, trumpet- shaped and grow singularly either in the axils of the branches or at the tips of the stems. The fruit is a prickly ovoid capsule with small, black, kidney-shaped pitted seeds. Thornapple is nacotic, poisonous, and the dried leaves may be smoked for the relief of asthma.
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The Thoroughbred is a British breed of running horse developed during the 17th and 18th centuries as a breed of fast race horse. A temperamental and easily frightened breed they are none-the-less ideal hacking and eventing horses. The Thoroughbred stands between 15.2 and 16.3 hands high and occurs in any solid colour, with white markings. The coat is usually silky and smooth and they have an elegant, arched neck.
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The thrasher is a species of shark (Alopias vulpinus) which has a very long upper division of its tail which it uses to thrash its prey or attackers.
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The Three-Humped Prominent (Tritophia tritophus) is a moth of the family Notodontidae with a wing span of between 45 and 55 mm distributed throughout temperate Europe. Two generations are produced each year flying from April to June and July to August.
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The thresher or fox-shark (Alopias vulpes) is a fish of the Lamnidae family. The upper lobe of the tail is as long as the rest of the body. The thresher is widely distributed in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and is the most common shark off the coast of Britain. It reaches a length of five metres and is quite harmless to man but eats small fish such as pilchards, herrings and sprats.
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Throscidae is a family of beetles comprised of two genera; Trixagus and Drapetes (which is often included in the family Eucnemidae).
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The thrush are several Passerine birds of the Turdus genus of the Merulidae family.
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Thryogenes (formerly Erirrhinus) is a genus of Snout Beetles (Curculionidae) represented by three British species that live on reed-grasses in swampy locations.
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Thuya or thuja is a genus of hardy evergreen trees belonging to the family Coniferae. They bear monoecious flowers, the male flowers being solitary, and the female in ovoid catkins. The cones are small, and of the same form as the catkins. The chief species are the North American arbor vitae, or white cedar.
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Thyatiridae is a small family of some 150 species of medium-sized nocturnal moths, represented by about 15 European species. They are characterised by an areole present in the forewing; the fraenulum well-developed; the proboscis well-developed; the palps relatively long.
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The Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) or Tasmanian Wolf, is a carnivorous marsupial resembling a dog in appearance, greyish-brown with conspicuous black markings on the hinder half of the back.
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Thyme (Thymus) is a genus of perennial herbs of the Labiatae family. All the species of Thyme contain essential oils and have very small leaves and flowers. The flowers are generally arranged in whorls and are purple, reddish or white in colour.
Common thyme (Thymus serpyllum) is found wild on British hills and the colder parts of the eastern hemisphere, where it grows flat on the ground. Lemon thyme is regarded as a variety of common thyme and is so named on account of its odour resembling lemon. Garden thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is a taller variety of thyme and is native to the Mediterranean region, being introduced to Britain some time prior to 1548, and easily cultivated in light soil in a sunny location..
From the flower heads of various varieties of thyme a stimulant is obtained which has been used in medicine. The antiseptic thymol is distilled from the oil of thyme.
Garden thyme is widely used in cooking as a flavouring herb on account of its aromatic properties.
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Thymelaceae is a family of trees and shrubs, or occasionally herbaceous plants native to temperate and tropical regions, with usually heads or short racemes of regular tubular flowers showing no distinction between calyx and corolla, followed by nuts, berries or drupes. They have acrid juice and opposite or alternate leaves.
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Thyrididea is the leaf moths family of insects of the order Lepidoptera.
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Thysanoptera is the thrips order of insects of the division Pterygota, subdivision Hemimetabola. They are minute, slender insects with cone-like piercing and lacerating mouth parts; large eyes; a one or two-segmented tarsi with a bladder-like tip; and no cerci. When wings are present and fully developed, they are long, narrow and fringed with hair. Most of the species are plant eating. The young resemble the adults, and unusually for an insect which undergoes an incomplete metamorphosis, have a pupa-like stage in their development.
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Thysanozoon is a member of the order Polycladida.
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The Thysanura is a sub-order of Apterygota, minute wingless insects of which five species occur in Britain. The Thysanura are found in damp earth, in rotten wood, and among other decaying vegetable matter. They are covered either with hairs or scales. There is no metamorphosis, the young hatching from their egg in the adult form. They have long, many-jointed antennae apparently at both ends. The Thysanura includes the Bristletail.
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The Tibetan Mastiff is a Tibetan breed of large guard dog, developed to guard flocks of sheep. They stand about 65 centimetres tall, and have a shaggy coat of black and tan or a gold colour. Tibetan Mastiff s were kept by George IV of England and the Prince of Wales exhibited the breed in 1875. A hardy and obedient breed, they are also good with children. Unusually, the bitches only come into season once a year, rather than twice as is usual for other dogs.
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The Tibetan Pony is an ancient breed of pony found in Tibet famed for its strength and endurance. The Tibetan Pony grows to 12 hands high and occurs mostly in a bay or grey colour. They are used for riding, light draft and pack work.
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The Tibetan Terrier or Bhuteer is a small breed of dog originally from Lhassa with specimens being smuggled into India via Leh and Kshmir. It varies considerably in size from the size of a Maltese up to that of a poodle. It bears a strong resemblance to the Skye Terrier, but its tail curls over its back. The coat is shaggy and the body compact, with a large round head. The eyes are half covered by a profuse fringe and the feet and legs are also well covered with hair.
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In birds, the tibiotarsus is the equivalent of the tibia, but it is fused at the lower end with some of the bones of the tarsus.
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Tick is a popular name applied vaguely to a large number of genera of Arachnida allied to the mites. Most of them are temporarily parasitic on animals, whose blood they suck by means of a rostrum or beak, swelling sometimes to several times their original size. In the tropics ticks are a serious pest, as they wait in ambush in homes, under stones and in foliage, waiting for an opportunity to attach themselves to any passing mammal, including man. Ticks convey many germs of diseases, such as relapsing or tick fever and spotted fever in man, Texas or redwater fever in cattle, and piroplasmosis in horses and dogs. The brown tick causes the so-called coast fever in cattle in South Africa.
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Tiding is the collective noun for a group of magpies.
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The tiger (Panthera tigris or Felis tigris) is a large Asian wild cat. It is maneless, of tawny-yellow colour with blackish transverse stripes and a white belly. The tiger is one of the largest members of the cat family, the males exceed the females in size and measure about 180 centimetres in length from the nose to the root of the tail - which is about 90 cm in length, and stand about one metre at the shoulder. The hair is short in the Indian species, but longer and wooly in the Siberian or Manchurian variety.
Tigers were formerly dounf throughout most parts of Central and Southern Asia, from the Caucasus to the island of Sakhalien. They were found in most parts of India, but not in Sri Lanka. The fabourite habitat of a tiger is jungle and forest where it blends in with the tall standing yellow grass and is difficult to see. Tigers generally hunt at night, feeding upon cattle, deer and other mammals. Tigers generally avoid man, but having discovered that man is an easier prey than say a deer, a tiger can become a serious threat to local inhabitants.
Tigers live generally hunt alone, pairing up during the breeding season to produce and jointly rear a litter of between two and five cubs, which stay with the mother until they are mature at the age of three.
There were eight sub-species of tiger, however three became extinct during the 20th century and the Amur Tiger became severely endangered. Like some other species of cat, tigers communicate with a complex vocal language, though currently it hasn't been decoded. Tigers not only communicate with each other, but will also happily 'talk' to anyone prepared to lie down next to them. A group of tigers is known as an ambush.
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Tiger Lily (Lilium tigrinum) is a bulbous herb of the natural order Liliaceae. It is native to China and much cultivated in Britain. The Tiger Lily grows to a height of about 90 cm and in late summer bears racemes of orange-red coloured flowers which are spotted with purplish-black.
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A tigress is a female tiger.
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Tigridia is a small genus of bulbous plants of the natural order Iridaceae. Natives of Mexico and Central America, one species, Tigridia pavonia, was introduced into Britain in 1796. The plants grow to about 45 cm tall, the flowers are white, red or violet but only last for two days.
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The tile-fish (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps) is a large, deep-water, yellow-spotted, spinny-finned fish of the order Teleostei found off the coast of New England. The tile-fish grows to about 30 cm long and is closely related to the sea perches. It is apparently good to eat.
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Tilia is a genus of hardy trees belonging to the family Tiliaceae. They bear cymes of whitish or yellowish flowers, which secrete a quantity of honey, and the flowers are followed by nutlike globose fruits.
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Tiliaceae is a family of plants including the limes. The members are chiefly natives of the tropics, though the typical genus, Tilia, is found in Europe, north Asia and North America. They have alternate, undivided leaves with toothed edges, complete flowers with five sepals and five petals, and produce nectar. The fruits and seeds vary.
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Tillandsia is a genus of tropical American herbaceous plants, mostly epiphytal in habit, and possessing considerable beauty. They bear narrow, entire leaves, and terminal spikes of flowers, with free sepals and petals.
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Tillus is a genus of chequered beetles of the family Cleridae found on old deciduous trees where its larvae feed on the larvae of various woodworms.
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The Timberman Beetle (Acanthocinus aedilis) is a British species of longhorn beetle (Cerambycidae) growing to twenty millimetres in length, found in and on pine wood.
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The Timor Pony is a breed of pony from the Indonesian island of Timor descended from imported Indian horses. The Timor Pony grows to between 10 and 12 hands high and is mostly bay, brown or black in colour. They are used for riding, driving, light farm work and for working with cows.
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Timothy Grass also known as Cat's-tail grass (Phleum pratense) is a coarse grass cultivated in North America and England as pasture and for hay with numerous varieties, and common on roadsides and in rough ground.
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The Timothy Tortrix (Aphelia paleana) is a moth of the family Tortricidae with a wing span of between 18 and 22 mm found in Europe flying from June to July in lowland damp meadows and also at high elevations in mountains. The caterpillar develops in spring among the spun-up leaves and young shoots of various moisture-loving plants.
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Tinamon (Tinamus) is a genus of South American birds belonging to the small order Tinamiformes. The genus is nearly related to the game birds, but is thought to have affinities with the Ratitae or flightless birds. In general appearance the members are rather like partridges, and they are usually found among the long grass of plains. They run like rails, and when hard pressed fly swiftly but are soon exhausted. Tinamons are highly valued as food, and this has led to their extermination in many areas.
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The tinamou is a South American bird of the family Tinamidae. It resembles the grouse but is actually related to the rhea.
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The Tinamous are a unique group of birds. They are about the size of a fowl with a small head and slender neck.
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Tineidae is the clothes and scavenger moths family of insects of the order Lepidoptera. The members are very small, and frequently domestic and commercial pests at the larval stage.
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Tinotus is a genus of rove beetles, Staphylinidae. They are black in colour with brown legs and are found in dung.
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Tipnus is a genus of Spider Beetle (Ptinidae).
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In biology, the term tissue is used for the substance of which the various parts of animal and plant bodies are composed. Thus, the substance of flesh or meat is known as muscular tissue, the substance of the brain and nerves is nerve tissue, that of bones is osseous tissue, that of the kidneys is renal tissue, that of glands in general is glandular tissue, and so on. Each of these particular tissues has its own characteristic cell structure.
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The Tit or titmouse is a family of small, rather long-tailed, arboreal birds (Paridae), of which seven species occur in Great Britain. Of these, the blue tit (Parus coeruleus), often known as the tomtit, is the best known, a little bird measuring 10 cm in length, with a blue crown, white cheeks, greenish back, blue wings and tail, and a white breast crossed by a blue line. It is found in most parts of the British Isles, and is a familiar visitor to gardens.
The bearded tit (Panurus biar-micus) is extremely rare, and only occurs in the neighbourhood of the Norfolk Broads. It is 15cm long, and has light brown plumage with a little black and white. The head is bluish grey, and from each cheek grows a tuft of black feathers from which the bird derives its name. It is found among beds of reeds, where it climbs about like a small parrot.
The long-tailed tit (Acredula caudata) is one of the smallest of British birds. The plumage is in the main black and white, with slight tinges of red. It occurs freely in England and Ireland, but is not common in Scotland. It is .found in woods and generally goes . in small parties, visiting hedges and .trees in search of insects. The nest is domed and is made of felted hair, . moss, and lichens, lined with feathers. Over two thousand feathers have been found in a single nest.
The great tit (Parus major), or ox-eye, has a black head and throat, greenish back, white cheeks, and yellow under parts, and it is 15 cm long. It occurs locally in woods , and orchards, but is nowhere abundant. It feeds mainly on insects, but has a distinct liking for carrion.
The marsh tit (Parus palustris) has a black head, grey wings and back, with white cheeks, throat, and breast. It is common in England, rare in Scotland, and absent from Ireland. The crested tit (Parus crisiatus) is distinguished by its pointed crest of black and white feathers. The cheeks are white, the throat black, the under parts white, and the rest of the plumage reddish brown. It is extremely rare, being only found in certain pine forests in the north of Scotland.
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Titan arum is a large and impressive plant of the genus Amorphophallus. In 2003, a Titan arum at the Botanical Gardens, Bonn, Germany flowered for three days, with an inflorescence that reached 274 centimeters in length. As with most other species of the genus Amorphophallus, Titan arum has a foul odour, and produces a perfume resembling decaying fish.
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Titanosaurus was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. It was a sauropod, about twelve metres long, heavily built and walked on all fours. It had a long neck and tail, and its back was covered with armour.
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Titanotheres was an extinct fossil family of ungulates resembling rhinoceroses. The animals, which flourished in the Oligocene, had bony growths on the maxillary bones above the snout. Some were large, 2.4 to 3 metres in height, and their horns varied in size from mere knobs to large wide-spreading tusks.
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Tittering is the collective noun for a group of magpies.
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Toad (Bufo) is a large genus of over 100 species of batrachians, of world-wide distribution, with the exception of Australia and Madagascar ; most abundant in tropical America and the Indo-Malayan region. Closely related to the frogs (Rana), they differ from them in their flatter upper side, broader head, shorter limbs, and in the skin being dry and pimply, with glands which secrete an acrid fluid. In addition, the toads are toothless, and the tip of the tongue is not divided. They pass through a larval ('tadpole') stage similar to that of the frog, but the eggs, which vary from 700 to 2,000, are extruded in a double chain enclosed in a string of jelly, which is wound around water plants. The tadpoles are smaller and darker than those of the frog. The genus is represented in Britain by two species: the common toad (Bufo vulgaris) and the natterjack (Bufo calamita); but the former does not occur in Ireland.
The common species has on its upper side some tint of brown or grey, varying with its surroundings; and the under parts are whitish, more or less spotted with black. It seeks drier situations than the frog, and is inactive during the day, coming abroad in the dusk and feeding upon insects, worms, and snails large individuals on occasion catching small mice. One toad will in a night's foraging consume vast numbers of insects, so that its cooperation is always to be encouraged by gardeners. From ancient days the toad has been the subject of numerous erroneous beliefs, e.g. the possession of a jewel in its head, the power of ejecting venom, and of living for centuries entombed in solid stone or the heart of a tree. The toad hibernates, retiring in autumn to holes in dry ground or other suitable retreats, and on awakening in spring immediately seeks the ponds or ditches for mating and egg-laying.
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Toadflax (Linaria) is a genus of herbs of the natural order Scrophulariaceae. Natives of Europe and western Asia, the flowers are tubular, with a hollow spur, and the mouth is closed by a couple of lips, which can only be opened by strong insects, like bees. The best known species are the yellow or common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) and the ivy-leaved toadflax (Linaria cymbalaria).
Yellow or common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) has a creeping rhizome and an erect, leafy, usually branched stem. The leaves are alternate, linear, entire and greyish-green in colour. The flowers are yellow and arranged in a dense elongated spike. The corolla is two-lipped and the tube is extended at the base into a long pointed spur. The fruit is an ovoid capsule with winged seeds.
Ivy-leaved toadflax (Linaria cymbalaria) trails down over old walls, and has slender branches, lobed, kidney-shaped leaves, and small blue-purple flowers.
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The Toadflax Pug (Eupithecia linariata) is a moth of the family Geometridae with a wing span of between 1 and 16 mm found in Europe and western Asia flying from May to September.
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Toadstool is a term popularly applied to mushroom-shaped fungi to indicate their supposed poisonous character. As a matter of fact, very few of this order of fungi (the Hymenomyceteae) are known positively to be poisonous, and a fair percentage are known to be as wholesome as the common mushroom (Psalliota campestris).
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Tobacco is the name given to the leaves of those varieties of the Nicotiana which are prepared in different forms for use as a narcotic. It is generally manufactured for smoking, but also for chewing and as snuth.
The word tobacco is probably derived from tobaco, the name given to a peculiar Y-shaped instrument used by the old inhabitants of the island of Santo Domingo for inhaling tobacco-smoke through the nostrils. Other authorities claim that the name of the herb is derived from the Mexican word tabacco.
Columbus and his party made the earliest European reference to tobacco on their return from the voyage to Cuba in 1492. The tobacco plant was first brought to Europe in 1558 by Francisco Fernandes, a Spanish physician. The wonderful healing properties which the plant was supposed to possess caused the habit of smoking and snuff-taking to spread with great rapidity over almost the whole of Europe. Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portugal, who gives his name to the genus Nicotiana, sent a present of tobacco seeds to Catherine de'Medici, and she initiated in France the snuff-taking habit as a cure for headache. This habit soon spread to Scotland and Ireland, where it remained popular long after the smoking habit had become established in England.
The smoking of tobacco was really started by English example. In 1586, Ralph Lane, the first governor of Virginia, and Sir Francis Drake brought smoking materials and implements to Sir Walter Raleigh, who very rapidly popularised the custom.
Most of the tobacco used in the 17th and 18th centuries was grown in Virginia by English colonists, whose industry was carefully protected by laws prohibiting the production of tobacco in the British Isles.
There are about 50 species of Nicotiana, most of them indigenous to America. Of these, three varieties are in general use by smokers: (1) Nicotiana tabacum, the Virginian variety, originally derived from the South or Central American seed, and now cultivated in almost all temperate and warmer climates. (2) Nicotiana rustica, grown principally in Turkey, Syria, and India. This is milder in flavour, and is principally used for the manufacture of cigarettes. It burns too quickly for a pipe tobacco. (3) Nicotiana Persica, or Persian tobacco, which is good for pipe tobacco, but not sufficiently uniform for the manufacture of cigars.
The tobacco plant is a coarse, rank-growing annual. Its stem is simple and unbranched, and grows to a height of about two meters, terminating in a bunch of yellow or rose-coloured flowers. The East Indian variety is slightly different, producing a green tobacco from a smaller plant. It is derived from the Mexican seed, and is also cultivated in Southern Germany and Hungary.
The tobacco plant can be cultivated in every part of the world, but with widely varying measures of success. It is grown in British gardens for the sake of its flowers. Clayey, moist soils produce tobaccos which are dark brown or reddish in colour when cured. Bright and yellow tobaccos are grown on sandy soils, and the leaf of this variety is thinner. The bright tobacco produced in Virginia and North Carolina is all grown in loose sandy soil with a clay subsoil.
The tobacco seeds are generally sown in nursery beds, and set out later. About 3OOOOO to 4000000 go to the ounce, and this produces about 40,000 plants, for which 50 square yards of nursery bed are sufficient. The seeds are sown at the end of March or beginning of April, in rich, heavy soil which has been carefully prepared and fertilised. The seedlings remain in the nursery from fifty to sixty days, during which time the fields are well tilled and manured. Transplanting is done on a warm, rainy day, and the young plants set in ridges varying from one to four feet in width. Ridges of one to one and a half feet are most usual in Cuba and Sumatra, as the wider ridge produces a leaf which is too coarse for the purpose of cigar-making.
The crop takes another two months until it flowers, and at this stage the buds are pinched off or 'topped', and some of the leaves pruned, so that only a certain number are left to ripen. For cigar-tobacco, from 15 to 20 leaves are left on the plant; for the best smoking tobaccos, 10 to 12 leaves. Plants which have been topped form suckers, and in Florida these are left to produce a second, although inferior, sucker crop.
The leaves take about 35 days to ripen after the plants are topped and pruned. The ripening leaf changes from a dark to a lighter yellowish-green colour, and is often mottled and becomes gummy. The ripe leaf cracks and creases when folded. The lower leaves ripen first, and for the best tobaccos the leaves are picked singly ;
as they ripen. For the bulk of the tobaccos, however, the whole plant is cut when the middle leaves are ripe. Warm, cloudy days are best for cutting, and the plants are not gathered in hot sunshine or when they are wet from rain or dew.
After harvesting the plants are left in the open to wilt, and are then conveyed to the drying-house or ventilating-barn, where they are straddled across tiers of poles and dried in a temperature which is raised to 170° F for four to five days. On damp days the moisture is allowed to penetrate into the drying-house to make the leaves pliable.
The plants are then taken down and stripped, and the leaves sorted into firsts, seconds, and lugs - the name given to the inferior leaves. They are formed into hands containing ten to twelve leaves, and these are left in heaps and fermented at a temperature of about 130° F for from three to four weeks. The heaps are shuffled from time to time, to allow all the leaves to assume a uniform brown tint. This process is called the fermenting or sweetening process. In the non-fermenting processes the leaves are simply sun-cured, or sun-dried, and this tobacco is used chiefly for chewing tobaccos. In the fermenting process the starch and sugar in the leaf are decomposed, but they are retained in the sun-dried process. Lastly, the leaves are packed carefully in hogsheads for shipment.
Tobacco leaf is used for making into various smoking mixtures, roll tobacco, cake or plug, cigars, cigarettes, and snuff. For snuff the leaf requires very careful fermentation during several weeks. It is ground up and flavoured so as to produce the greatest possible amount of free ammonia, free nicotine, and other aromatic scents.
Syria produces and manufactures a smoking tobacco which is known as Latakia. It is similar to Turkish-grown tobacco, but differently treated. The plants are not topped. The seeds as well as the leaves are included in the curing, this taking place in the smoke of a fire of evergreen-oak, which gives a black colour and a peculiarly strong flavour to the tobacco.
Tobacco for pipe-smoking is mostly grown in the USA, the chief states being Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia. Louisiana grows a dark, almost black, and very strong tobacco known as perique. Cigarette tobaccos are principally imported from Virginia, and Turkish and Egyptian cigarettes are also in great demand. The Egyptian cigarette is made from Turkish leaf, as the cultivation of tobacco in Egypt was prohibited in 1891. The best cigar tobaccos are grown in Cuba. A very good cigar leaf is also produced in Jamaica, Sumatra and North Borneo.
Since the introduction of tobacco into England, it has been subject to continuous legislation and import duties. In the early days a certain quantity of tobacco was grown in England for domestic consumption, and quite a considerable trade was done with Turkey, which, at that time, imported her tobacco supplies from England. Queen Elizabeth imposed a tax of 2d per Ib on imported tobacco. In 1621 James I increased this to 6s. lOd. per Ib.
During the American War of Independence, England's source of supply and the revenue there from were temporarily suspended, and tobacco was again widely planted in England, although the prohibition laws had not been repealed. These laws had never applied to Scotland, and to reimburse themselves for the loss of revenue during the non-importation of American tobacco, the Government purchased the Scotch tobacco crops at the fixed price of 4d. per Ib., thus temporarily creating a Government monopoly in tobacco. The ban on the growing of tobacco in the British Isles, renewed in 1782 in England, and in 1830 in Ireland, was modified later in the 19th century, and tobacco can now be cultivated under licence.
During the late 20th century an American-led ban on tobacco smoking supposedly because of the connection with lung cancer, but more likely under pressure from the pharmaceutical lobby, in public places slowly extended to Britain, with Scotland banning the smoking of tobacco in pubs and clubs in 2005.
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The Toddy Palm (Caryota urens) is a tree of the natural order Palmae. A native of India and Sri Lanka, it grows to a height of 15 or 18 metres with a crown of curving, much-divided leaves which are between 3 and 6 metres long. The wedge-shaped leaflets have their broad, upper ends irregularly notched, and the base of the leafstalk embraces the stem. The flowers are in drooping spikes, about 3 metres long, and the fruits are small, yellow-skinned berries. The juice of the flower spike is known as palm wine or toddy and when boiled it yields jaggery or palm sugar, and sugar candy. The central parts of the stem yield a kind of sago; and the fibres of the leafstalk constitute kittul fibre, which is used for brooms, brushes and ropes.
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Todea is a genus of ferns, mostly natives of New Zealand and Australia. They have a habit very similar to polypodies.
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The Todos Santos Island Kingsnake (Lampropeltis zonata herrerae) is a little known species of King snake distinguished by a lack of red colour, being yellowish-white instead with black bands.
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Todus (Todies) are a genus and family of minute red and green insectivorous picarian birds found in the West Indies.
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The tody is a small insectivorous West Indian bird of the genus Todus, allied to the kingfisher.
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The toggenburg is a light to dark brown coloured breed of domestic goat kept for its milk . They originated in Switzerland but are now also found in Britain and the USA.
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A tom (or gobbler) is a male turkey (the female being a hen).
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Tom Putt is a very old mid-season species of apple. The fruit is used for cooking and cider making. Very popular in the Midlands and the West Country, where cider was traditionally made. The species was raised in the late eighteenth century by the Reverend Tom Putt, Rector of Trent in Somerset, who was a keen fruit grower. The fruit is crisp and quite sharp when raw, but sweeter when cooked.
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The tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) is a South American annual plant of the family Solanaceae. It produces a round red fruit which is treated like a vegetable.
The tomato was introduced into Britain around 1696, and was originally grown in greenhouses as a decorative climbing plant on account of its red and yellow berries, as they were then termed. The tomato was not eaten at first, on account of the many toxic varieties of related plant which were known.
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The Tong is a breed of sheep originating from the Mongolian breed. It is a white, polled breed located in the high plains of northern Shaaxi Province in China. The beautiful curls of the lamb pelt look like pearls, and a coat- lining made from it provides warmth with light weight. The Tong sheep have a type of coarse wool commonly called 'carpet wool'. They are adapted to the unfavourable local environmental conditions of the North and Northwest Pastoral Grasslands. They have the ability to deposit fat in the tail (fat- tail sheep).
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The tonka or tonquin is a large South American tree (Dipteryx odorata) of the family Leguminosae. The seeds, known as tonka beans, are black fragrant and almond- shaped and are used for scenting tobacco and perfume.
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The Tonkinese (Tonk) is a hybrid breed of domestic cat produced from the crossing of a seal-point Siamese with a brown Burmese Cat resulting in an inquisitive and adventurous breed which hunts, and will happily shred household furnishings when bored. The Tonkinese is affectionate, intelligent and needs human interaction.
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Toothwort (Lathraea squamaria) is a genus of perennial root-parasites of the natural order Orobanchaceae, native of Europe and Asia. Toothwort has a thick fleshy white rootstock whose rootlets are attached to those of its victim, chiefly hazel. The stout whitish stems are from 10 to 25 centimeters high, clothed with broad scales in lieu of leaves, which are folded back upon themselves, enclosing several chambers whose walls are studded with stalked elands. It is believed that minute creatures enter these chambers, become entangled in the hairs of the glands, and have their juices sucked to feed the plant. The purple-tinged flowers are also fleshy, and crowded on a one-sided spike borne in spring.
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The tope (Galeorhinus galeus) is a small European shark.
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Topred is a variety of apple that was discovered in the 1950's in Columbia, USA. It is a mutation of Shotwell Delicious, which was itself a mutation of Red Delicious. Topred is in full bloom from mid to late October and is harvested from late February to early March. Topred has a deep red colour, more uniform than a Starking and with conspicuous lenticels. It is a medium to large fruit. The flesh is creamy-white in colour with a crisp texture. The taste is sweet and juicy and delicious to eat. This apple is not suited to baking.
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Torenia is a genus of mostly tropical herbaceous plants belonging to the family Scrophulariaceae. They bear short, few-flowered racemes of flowers, often highly coloured.
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The Toric (Tori, Estonian Klepper or Double Klepper) is an Estonian breed of heavy horse developed during the 19th century for farm and agricultural work, though also used sometimes as a riding horse. The Toric stands 15 hands high and is mostly chestnut in colour, with short, strong legs and a long, wide, muscular back.
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Tormentil (Potentilla erecta) is a perennial herb of the family Rosaceae native to Europe, western Siberia and the Azores. It has a stout, almost tubular rootstock which has astringent qualities and is used for tanning. the stems are long, slender and hairy. the leaves are divided into three or five oval, wedge-shaped leaflets, and the yellow flowers have four or five petals.
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Torosaurus was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. It was a stocky, neck-frilled dinosaur similar to Triceratops, about seven and a half metres long, with a horny beak at the end of a long head over two and a half metres long. Remains of Torosaurus have been found that show an individual suffering from bone cancer.
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The torsk or tusk (Brosmius brosme) is a food fish of the cod family found in both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The body is cylindrical; there is one very long dorsal, and one long ventral fin; the scales are minute and the colouring is grey. The fish grows to a length of one meter.
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Tortoise is the name generally given to the land species of reptiles of the order Chelonia, the aquatic species being the terrapins and turtles. The members are characterised by a partially external skeleton forrming a bony box or shell for the animal's protection, from which project the legs and head, and which can be retracted into the shell. None of the tortoises have teeth, but the jaws are cased with horn to form a cutting beak. In most of the toroises the carapace is covered with horny plates, often finely mottled, the prettier kinds being used for tortoiseshell, but ironically the best totoiseshell comes from the shell of a species of turtle.
Tortoises are confined to the warmer regions of the world, some species occuring in southern Europe. They are herbivores and are active during the day (diurnal), in the cooler regions hibernating during the winter, but in the hotter regions remaining active all year. Tortoises are renowned for their longevity, giant tortoises living for over 100 years.
The Testudo graeca species of Tortoise from southern Europe is about 15 to 25 cm long, has a mottled yellow and black carapace and are eaten in Italy and Sicily. The female lays about a dozen white eggs which she buries in warm sand during the month of June.
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The Tortoise Beetle (Cassida viridis) is a species of leaf beetle (Chrysomelidae) about 10 mm long with a flat, wide body under which they can retract their head, antennae and limbs. The larvae are long and spiny and live on various herbaceous plants together with the adults.
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Tortricidae is the leaf rollers, or tortrix moths, family of insects of the order Lepidoptera.
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The totara is a tree found in New Zealand and Chile.
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In ornithology, the term totipalmate refers to having four toes all fully webbed.
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The toucan (Rhamphastidae) are a family of picarian birds (the woodpeckers) found in South and Central America forests. They possess brilliant plumage and enormously large, saw-edged bills, but unlike the hornbills, toucans do not possess a bill helmet. Toucans live in societies feeding mainly on fruit, and are esteemed by the natives for food.
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Touch-me-not (Impatiens Noli-me-tangere) is a British plant of the family Balsaminaceae. It derives its name from the elastic valves of its seed pods which violently eject the seeds at the slightest touch.
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Touchwood (Fomes igniarius) is a woody fungus of the natural order Polyporiaceae. It is very destructive to forest and orchard trees. The visible portion of the plant is a hard, hoof-shaped bracket about 13 cm across with concentric zones above, ultimately black in colour. The underside is convex and a cinnamon colour. New growths are added to the margin and underside each spring. Thin slices of touchwood if ignited, will continue to smoulder until completely burned away, and the material was used by aboriginal Stone Age inhabitants of the British Isles to carry fire from place to place.
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The Toulouse is a breed of goose.
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Tower is the collective noun for a group of giraffes.
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The toxodon was a large three-toed ungulate mammal as tall and heavily built as a rhinoceros, which lived in South America in late Tertiary times.
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Toxoplasma gondii is a Protozoan which causes the disease toxoplasmosis.
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Toxotus is a genus of longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae). The larvae develop chiefly in spruce stumps, but also in other old conifer wood.
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The trachea is a pipe leading to the lung chamber.
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Tracheid is the water conducting component in the wood of vascular plants.
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Trachylina is an order of Hydrozoa. They are mainly marine forms in which the medusoid stage is represented, and the hydroid stage is reduced or absent.
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Trachyphloeus is a genus of Snout Beetles (Curculionidae) represented by eight British species.
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Trachys is a genus of jewel beetle (Buprestidae) represented by three British species. The larvae tunnel mines in the leaves of various plants.
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Tradescantia (spider-wort) is a genus of American herbaceous plants belonging to the family Commelinaceae. They usually bear simple cymes of flowers with distinct sepals, obovate petals and six stamens.
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The tragopan (Ceriornis) is a genus of Asiatic pheasant. The male has erectile fleshy horns on his head leading to its alternative name of the horned pheasant.
There are five known species of tragopan, all occuring in India and China where they are famed for the beauty of their plumage. They live in bamboo plantations and in dense coverts on the hills.
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Tragosoma is a genus of comparatively small longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae) between fifteen and thirty millimetres in length.
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Tragulidae is the mouse deer family of animals of the order Artiodactyla. Usually solitary and nocturnal, tragulids live in dense vegetation on the forest floor where they feed principally on grasses, leaves, and some fruit, but they also eat invertebrates, small mammals, and sometimes carrion. Limbs, are long and slender and end in hoofs. The carpals are cuboidal and highly specialized; the lateral digits are present although not strongly developed, and they are sometimes digitigrade. The hind feet have a cannon bone; the third and fourth metacarpals of the forefeet are either unfused (as in the African species) or only partially fused (as in the Asian species). An ossified plate to which the sacral vertebrae attach is present. Antlers and horns are absent. A postorbital bar is present. There is no sagittal crest, and the mandibular condyle is long. A full set of lower incisors is present, but the uppers are replaced by a horny pad. Canines are present, large and curved in males, extending below the lower lip, smaller in females.
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The Trait du Nord is a French breed of heavy horse. They have a calm disposition and great pulling power making them ideal for agricultural work in hilly areas. The Trait du Nord stands 16 hands high and is roam, red roam or bay in colour.
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The Trakehner is an ancient breed of German horse that originated in East Prussia (now Lithuania). A versatile horse, the Trakehner stands between 16 and 16.2 hands high and is any solid colour. They are sturdy, athletic horses greatly influenced by Thoroughbreds, but much more manageable with a more easy going and calm nature, and are employed in competition riding.
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Transmutation is a biological term whereby one species transforms into another through an evolutionary process.
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The Transparent Burnet (Zygaena purpuralis) is a moth of the family Zygaenidae with a wing span of between 28 and 35 mm found throughout Europe, except in Spain, and through Asia Minor and Russia wherever thyme grows. The moths fly from June to August.
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The Transylvanian Naked Necks is a breed of chicken.
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Trapa is a genus of tropical, aquatic herbaceous plants (the Water Caltrops) of the family Onagrariaceae. They bear solitary flowers, followed by one celled bony beaked fruits. The submerged leaves are pinnatipartiate, with filiform segments, the floating leaves being rhomboidal. Their nuts are often consumed as food (as in the case of Trapa Natans, the water chestnut or Jesuits' Nut).
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Traveller's Joy (Clematis vitalba) also known as Virgin's Bower, Old Man's Beard and White Vine, is a climbing shrub of the natural order Ranunculaceae native to Europe, western Asia and north Africa. As a rule it scrambles over hedges and thickets, but often when it reaches up into a tree its rope-like stems are of great length. The opposite leaves are divided into three or five long heart-shaped leaflets, and the leaf-stalk is the climbing instrument, taking a turn round twigs and hardening. The flowers are slightly odorous, and consist of four greenish-white sepals downy on the under surface. The numerous styles develop long white feathery tails, which in autumn become the old man's beard.
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Traveller's Tree (Ravenala madagsacariensis) is a palm-like plant of the natural order Scitaminaceae. It is native to Madagascar and the trunk is built up of the bases of former leaf stalks which sheath the newer ones. The leaves are very large, alternate, and are arranged in two rows, with long stalks which are greatly dilated at the base and hold about a quart of water. The numerous white flowers are clustered in large, boat-shaped spathes. The seeds are edible and the leaves are useful for thatching.
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The Treble Lines (Charanyca trigrammica) is a moth of the family Noctuidae with a wing span of between 35 and 40 mm found in warmer parts of Europe and Asia Minor flying from May to July, with an occasional second generation appearing in September.
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The Treble-bar (Aplocera plagiata) is a moth of the family Geometridae with a wing span of between 27 and 40 mm found throughout the Palaearctic flying from May to October.
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Trechus is a genus of over 45 species of beetles of the ground beetle family, Carabidae. Trechus quadristriatus is found in Britain and Europe in a variety of habitats in mountainous and lowland regions. It grows to about four millimetres in length.
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A tree is a perennial plant with a self supporting woody main stem.
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The Tree Creeper (Certhia familiaris) is a small British bird which derives its name from its habit of creeping about the bark of trees. It is about 13 cm long, and its plumage on the upper parts is mottled with dark brown yellowish brown and white. The wings are brown, barred with white and yellow, and tipped with white; the tail is reddish brown, and the breast is whitish. The beak is long, curved and slender, and is used for extracting small insects and their eggs from crevices in the bark.
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Tree fern is a popular name for various species of fern of the genera Alsophila, Cyathea, Discksonia, etc native to tropical and temperate regions. Their rootstock grows so far out of the ground as to constitute a spurious trunk consisting mainly of the bases of former fronds. Some of them are as tall as palms, which they resemble in the bare stem and wide-spreading crown of fronds, some fronds being as much as ten metres log.
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Tree Frog is a family of frogs arboreal in habit (they live in trees). There are over 150 known species and may be recognised by the adhesive disks on their toes which enable them to cling to the leaves and stems of trees. Usually green in colour, which makes them hard to spot among the foliage when they are resting, they spend all their time in trees except in cold or very dry weather when they hide in mud or under stones, and in the breeding season when most of the species visit water for spawning. One species (Hyla arborea) is common to central and southern Europe and has become naturalised in places on the Isle of Wight. It hunts among the foliage for grubs, spiders and insects.
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The tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus) is a genus of arboreal kangaroos found only in Australia and New Guinea. There are about seven species, black or dark grey in colour, with the front and hind limbs almost equal in length, and thus differing from the ground kangaroos. They feed mainly on fruit and ferns.
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Tree mallow (Lavater arborea) is a shrub of the natural order Malvaceae native to the European coasts. It forms a stout, erect, woody stem between 1.5 and 2 metres high, and its large roundish leaves are cut into from five to nine lobes with toothed edges. The glossy purple flowers, much like those of mallow and holly-hock, are 4 cm across.
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Tree Shrew is the popular name for the order Scandentia of animals (family Tupaiidae). They are arboreal shrews found only in India and Malaysia. They resemble squirrels in external appearance, but have the typically long muzzle of the shrews and possess a complete auditory bullae and zygomatic arches. Their orbits are large, and behind the orbit is a well-developed and complete postorbital process. They feed on insects and fruit.
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The Tree Slug (Limax marginatus) is a pale and translucent looking British slug, about seven centimetres long, which climbs trees in the wet, hence its popular name.
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Trematoda - the trematodes - is a class of Phylum platyhelminthes. They are Parasitic flat worms with a leaf-like body which affect the vertebrae of their prey, and include the fluke worms. The mesenchyme secretes a tough cuticle and cilia are lacking in the adults. Hooks and/or suckers are often present.
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The Triangle Moth (Heterogenera asella) is a very rare moth of the family Limacodidae with a wing span of between 15 and 20 mm found in the deciduous forests of the Palaearctic region flying from June to July.
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Tribe is the collective noun for a group of goats.
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Tribolium is a genus of darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) found in grain and flour stores.
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The triceratops was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. Triceratops was a stocky animal, about nine metres long with a short bony neck frill and three horns on its head, two long horns pointing forwards and a short horn on the nose.
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Trichina is a genus of Nematode worms. The genus includes Trichiasis spiralis which is one of the most dangerous parasites in man and other animals. It is very small, being less than 5 mm long, and some millions may be present in any one host, in which case they frequently give rise to the condition known as trichiniasis. The eggs are hatched out in the intestines of the host, and the trichinae then migrate to the muscles where they become encysted and develop no further unless the flesh of the host is eaten by some other animal. They are then set free in the alimentary canal, where they become sexually mature. The natural host of this parasite is the rat, but it is also prevalent in pigs, and hence transmitted to man through eating pork.
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Trichius is a genus of beetle the family Scarabaeidae, about twelve millimetres long and with a back covered with long woolly hairs, except for the brightly and variably coloured elytra.
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Trichocellus is a genus of beetles of the ground beetle family, Carabidae. They closely resembling the genus Dicheirotrichus, but are smaller (four to five millimetres in length) and are not associated with salt water.
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Trichodes (the bee-eating beetle) is a genus of chequered beetles of the family Cleridae.
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Trichoferus is a genus of longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae).
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Tricladida is an order of Turbellaria with an intestine having three main branches. The sense organs are frequently well developed.
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Trigger fish is a popular name for any of the various deep-bodied fishes of the family Balistidae, in which the large first spine of the dorsal fin can only be depressed by releasing the second. They are found mainly in inshore tropical waters.
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Trigonaloidea is a super-family of insects of the sub-order Apocrita, order Hymenoptera. The fully developed adults are black in colour with spotted wings and resemble tiny wasps.
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Trigonogenius is a genus of Spider Beetle (Ptinidae) native to America.
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Trilobita is a class or subphylum of oval, flattened arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda) with five pairs of head appendages. They were all marine, becoming extinct after the Silurian period.
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The term trilobite is applied to any one of numerous extinct marine arthropods that resembled large woodlice and belonged to the subphylum Trilobita. The trilobites had a jointed horny body divided into three section - hence their name - an anterior solid cephalon, a segmented thorax or trunk, and a posterior pygidium. The fossil remains of trilobites are frequently found in Palaeozoic rocks, predating the fishes, and seem to have flourished in great numbers during the Cambrian and Silurian periods, remains having been found of trilobites ranging from minute to large at over 40 cm long.
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Trimium is a genus of beetles of the family Pselaphidae. They have short antennae with an outsized, ovoid terminal segment.
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Trip is the collective noun for a group of goats.
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Triplax is a genus of beetle of the family Erotylidae with a red or yellow pronotum and legs.
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The Triple-Spotted Clay (Xestia ditrapezium) is a moth of the family Noctuidae found in the temperate zone of Europe and Asia flying from June until the beginning of August.
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Trissemus is a genus of beetles of the family Pselaphidae found in swamps and near water.
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Triticum is a genus of hardy grasses, mostly natives of Southern Europe and Western Asia. They bear flat leaves and terminal cylindrical spikes of from two to five flowered spikelets.
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Tritoma is a genus of beetle of the family Erotylidae.
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Tritonia (also called Montbretia) is a genus of South African bulbous plants belonging to the family Iridaceae. They have linear leaves shaped like swords and growing in two rows, clasping at the base, and more or less tubular or campanulate flowers borne on two-rowed spikes.
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Trixagus is a genus of tiny beetle of the family Throscidae.
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Troglops is a genus of small beetle of the family Malachiidae, with unusually large heads.
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Trogoderma is a genus of beetle of the carpet beetle family (Dermestidae).
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The Trogon are a family of tropical birds remarkable for their brilliant plumage and often very long tail feathers. Members of the family occur in Africa, South Asia, Central America and South America, and include some nine genera.
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Trogossitidae is a family of beetles of the order Coleoptera, whose members vary in habits. Most live on wood attacked by fungi, some are predacious and others feed on stored foodstuffs.
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Troodon was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. The only remains found of
Troodon have been a single tooth, which after much analysis was eventually established in 1987 to have come from a carnivore, probably about two and a half metres long, which if it was like similar dinosaurs walked on its hind legs and had slashing claws.
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Troop is the collective noun for a group of baboons.
Troop is the collective noun for a group of monkeys.
Troop is the collective noun for a group of kangaroos.
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Tropaeolum is a genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants belonging to the family Geraniaceae. They are natives of South America introduced into Britain in 1596. They usually twine or trail, and for the most part bear lightly-coloured red, orange, or yellow irregular flowers, followed by wrinkled, hard, iridescent, one-seeded fruits. The nasturtium is one of the most popular and widely known species.
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Trophiphorus is a genus of Snout Beetles (Curculionidae), believed to only occur in Europe, mainly living in mountain regions.
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Tropideres is a genus of beetle of the family Anthribidae found chiefly on oak trees.
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Tropinota is a genus of beetle of the family Scarabaeidae, subfamily Cetoniinae.
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Troubling is the collective noun for a group of goldfish.
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The trout (Salmo fario) is a freshwater fish of the family Samonidae, native to the rivers that flow into the north-east Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Caspian and Black seas.
The trout has a rather short and compressed body, a small well-shaped head with a blunt conical snout, and is clothed with rounded scales marked with concentric lines of growth. The colour of the upper parts varies, but is often greenish brown, paling below to a dirty white. The dorsal fin is nearly central, and as in the salmon there is a small appendage (adipose fin) of fatty tissue between the dorsal and tail fins.
On the lower side there is a pair of pectoral or breast fins just behind the gill covers, a ventral fin below the hinder edge of the dorsal and the anal fin is below the adipose. The head and sides, as well as the back and tail fins are dotted with round or X-shaped black spots.
Trout live in running, clear streams or in the lakes from which such streams originate. Like salmon they seek the shallow upper waters for spawning and travel to these spawning grounds in autumn leaping out of the water to pass weirs and small waterfalls. During spawning the trout becomes a black colour and shiny, returning to its normal colour in late spring.
Trout feed on crustaceans, insects, snails, worms, the eggs of salmon and other fishes; and small fish.
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Trox is a genus of beetle of the family Scarabaeidae. They live on dry materials of animal origin, such as skins, and can make a chirping sound by rubbing their abdomen on their elytra.
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The True Lover's Knot (Lycophotia porphyrea) is a moth of the family Noctuidae found in Europe and Asia. It has a wing span measuring 25 to 30 mm and flies from June to July.
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Truffles are subterranean fungi belonging to the family Tuberaceae of the natural order Ascomyceteae. They look similar to potatoes, but their structure is entirely different. When old they become full of brown spores, much like puff balls, but when young they are fleshy in texture. Several species are edible and are highly valued as flavouring agents. They are often found under oak trees.
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The trumpet tree (cecropia peltata) is an evergreen tree of the natural order Moraceae native to South America and the West Indies. The branches are hollow and were traditionally used as musical instruments.
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The trumpet-fish or bellows-fish (Centriscus scolopax) is a small acanthopteryglous marine fish, about twelve centimetres long, red or green above and silvery below, with an elongated and tubular mouth. It is sometimes found on the southern coasts of Britain, and is eaten in the Mediterranean area.
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The Trumpeters (Psophia) are a family of South American birds related to the seriema, the cranes and the rails. They are so named from their loud trumpet-like cry. The body is about the size of a fowl's, but the legs are long and crane-like, and the beak short. They nest on the ground and feed on insects, seeds and fruits.
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Trypanosome is a parasite of the genus Trypanosoma. It is a flagellate Protozoa which infects the blood of man and other animals often causing disease, including sleeping-sickness. Trypanosome is carried by the tsetse fly and transmitted by its bite.
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The Tsetse (Glossina) is a genus of two winged brown and yellow flies found in Africa that carries the Trypanosome parasite which causes sleeping sickness.
The Tsetse are natives of tropical Africa with about fifteen species varying from 6 mm to 12 mm long, and with their wings closed resembling the common housefly, but the wings are twice the length of the hind-body, and the mouth-parts are developed into a piercing and sucking organ longer than the head. The females retain their eggs and nourish their larvae until that stage is all but complete, when the grubs are deposited singly and at once begin to bury themselves for pupation.
The flies affect cover near water afforded by reeds, bushes or forest, and avoid the open grassy plains. Country affording suitable cover is known as 'fly-belts' which were found impassable by early explorers with animals and men alike being struck down by sleeping sickness.
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Tsintaosaurus was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. Tsintaosaurus was a duck-billed dinosaur, about seven metres long that walked on its hind legs. On top of the head was a forward-pointing hollow horn connected to the nostrils, but enclosed at the top.
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Tsuga is a genus of hardy evergreen trees of the family Coniferae, including the hemlock spruce. The leaves are narrow, and the flowers monoecious. The cones are subglobose in form.
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The Tuatara or Spenodon (Sphenodon punctatus, Sphenodon guntheri or Hatteria punctata) is the only surviving genus of the snout-headed reptiles, Rhynchocephalia order or group of prehistoric reptiles which preceded the dinosaurs. The tuatara is a lizard-like reptile found only on some 30 islands off the north coast of New Zealand, the Sphenodon guntheri species being found only on North Brother Island in the Cook Strait. The tuatara lays between 10 and 14 eggs which it buries in the ground and live either in a burrow it digs itself or sharing a burrow built by petrels. A fully grown tuatara is about 60 cm long, usually dark olive in colour with yellow dots. The tuatara is carnivorous, feeding mainly on insects, snails and earthworms but also eating lizards small birds and eggs. It differs from the lizards in having the quadrate bone, to which the lower jaw is attached, immovable; while the bones of the vertebrae are hollowed at both ends. The mandible is beak-like and there is a pineal body, or rudimentary third eye, in the top of the skull. The skin is tubercled, and a crest of small spines runs along the middle of the back and tail. It is a sluggish moving creature.
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The tuatera is a large lizard-like reptile found only in New Zealand, and forming the distinct order Rhynchocephalia, in which the skull and skeleton are more like those of the crocodile than a lizard.
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The Tube Flower (Clerodendron siphonanthus) is a shrub of the natural order Verbenaceae native to India. It grows to a height of about two metres and has opposite, undivided leaves and terminal clusters of white, funnel-shaped flowers with long projecting stamens and style.
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A tuber is a thickened, fleshy or scaly portion of a plant's underground stem which serves as a store-house for starch and other plant food, allowing the pant to survive periods of frost or drought when its above ground parts are destroyed.
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Tuberaceae is a family of subterranean fungi of the natural order Ascomyceteae. The family includes the truffle.
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The Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa) is a bulbous herb of the natural order Amaryllidaceae native to Mexico. It has narrow lance-shaped leaves, and a tall flower stem ending in a spray of many creamy-white, funnel-shaped, highly fragrant flowers.
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The tubifex are oligochaeta.
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Tubularia is a member of the order Gymnoblastea.
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The tufted duck (Aythya fuligula) is a British duck. The male is black and white in colour with a purplish sheen to the head and has a tufted crest. The female has brown plumage. Both sexes have yellow eyes and a black- tipped grey bill. The nest is built in waterside vegetation.
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The tulip is a genus of flowering plants of the family Liliaceae indigenous to eastern Europe. One species, the wild tulip (Tulipa sylvestris) is now native to Britain, the first tulips having been introduced to Britain from Vienna around 1578. It is a bulbous plant, attaining a height of about 30cm, with very narrow leaves and a solitary large fragrant flower. Formerly, tulips were exceptionally valuable in Britain and Holland, in 1639 120 tulips being sold for 90,000 florins and one particular flower, known as the 'Viceroy' for 4230 guilders.
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The Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a tree of the family Magnoliaceae, introduced into Britain from North America towards the close of the 17th century. It may grow to a height of nearly 30 metres and in summer develops beautiful large, green, orange or lemon-coloured flowers resembling tulips.
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Tumbling Flower Beetles are beetles of the family Mordellidae, order Coleoptera. They are so named from their habit of doing summersaults when attacked to avoid capture.
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The tuna or tunny (Thunnus) is the name of various marine, food fish of the mackerel family Scombridae, found in temperate and tropical seas. Tuna is common in the Mediterranean and occassionaly occur around the British coasts. They frequently grow to a length in excess of three metres.
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Tunny is another name for the tuna fish.
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Tuojiangosaurus was a dinosaur of the late Jurassic period. It was a herbivore similar to Stegosaurus, that walked on four legs and was protected by vertical armoured plates arranged in pairs along its back and a tail equipped with four, long, cone-shaped spikes. Remains of Tuojiangosaurus have been found in southern China.
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The tupelo or Ogechee lime are large American trees of the genus Nyssa, family Cornaceae, found growing in swamps and on river banks in the southern USA. In autumn the leaves turn a brilliant deep red colour. They bear small flowers followed by rectangular red-coloured drupes.
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The turaco is a long-tailed crested African bird of the genus Tauraco, family Musophagidae.
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Turbellaria is a class of free-living flatworms (Phylum Platyhelminthes). They live in water and damp conditions. The epidermis is glandular, ciliated and has a thin cuticle.
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The turbot (Rhombus maximus) is a flat fish found in the Mediterranean and North Sea. Next to the sole, it is the most highly esteemed of the flat fish for the firmness and delicacy of its flesh. It is a greyish brown in colour, with darker spots and the scales when present are very small and inconspicuous. The turbot may grow to one metre in length. It feeds mainly on other fishes.
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The turkey (Meleagris) is a genus of large grouse game birds forming the subfamily Meleagrididae, of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. Turkeys formerly lived in woodland in North and Central America but today as a result of excessive hunting, their natural ranges are much reduced. They are powerfully built birds with dark greenish-grey feathers edged with black. The male (known as a tom or gobbler) of the common or North American turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, has a large protuberance on its neck, grows to 1.25 m, and has been extensively domesticated, with many breeds produced.
The ocellated turkey, Meleagris ocellata, is found in the tropical lowlands of the Yutacan Peninsular of Mexico, and in adjacent parts of Guatemala and British Honduras. It is a colourful bird with iridescent green, gold and reddish-copper bronzing over its wings and back with a purplish-blue ocellus in the tips of the grey and black pencilled main tail feathers and tail coverts.
The turkey was probably introduced directly to Spain by the Spanish, around 1520 soon after Columbus discovered America, and from there they spread through Europe reaching England in 1541, where being assumed to have originated in the country Turkey was named accordingly. The turkey, like the chicken, is remarkable in that hens can lay fertilized eggs without being fertilized by a male. Unlike chickens, however, turkey virgin births always result in a male offspring.
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The Turkey Buzzard (Cathartes aura) or John Crow as it is called in Jamaica, is a small, black species of vulture found in the Americas from Saskatchewan south to the Falkland Islands. The Turkey Buzzard has a whitish bill and a tuft of bristles in front of red eyes. The head and upper neck are naked. The Turkey Buzzard is a carrion feeder and acts as a scavenger.
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Turkey rhubarb (Rheum officinale) is a species of rhubarb, similar to Chinese rhubarb.
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The Turkish angora is a breed of long-haired cat renowned for its ability to remain immobile for long periods and for its love of water and bathing. The coat is very fine, silky, and wavy. The ears are large, wide at the base, and pointed, the tail is long, tapering, and usually carried curled, the eyes are large and almond-shaped. The Angora is very responsive to its owner's wishes and enjoys retrieval games.
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The Turkish Van (Turkish Cat) is a friendly, affectionate, semi-longhaired (or by American classification longhaired) breed of cat that originates from Turkey and was first discovered around Lake Van in eastern Turkey, whence the name, and introduced to Britain being recognised as an official breed in 1969, and from Britain to the USA in 1970. The Turkish Van is a fairly solid, heavy-boned breed generally pure white in colour with patches of colour on the head and a full-brushed coloured tail. The coat lacks a woolly undercoat, making it easier to groom than that of a Persian Cat. Unusually, the Turkish Van enjoys water and is a good swimmer.
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The Turkoman is a Turkmenistan/Iranian breed of horse based on the now extinct ancient Turkoman breed of horse. The modern Turkoman is a peculiarly shaped horse, extremely slender with almost no body fat due to their artificial rearing and feeding, and are bred for racing. They stand between 15 and 16 hands high and are any solid colour.
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Turmeric (Curcuma) is a perennial, reed-like plant of the ginger family native to India. The roots are hard and resinous and when ground yield a yellow powder with a marked aromatic odour which forms the base of curry powder and has been used as a dye in India and China for colouring silks, though it is not fast in light.
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The common turnip (Brassica rapa) is a biennial cruciferous plant of the same genus as cabbage with a fleshy globular or spheroidal root, toothed leaves, and yellow flowers. The turnip is native to Britain where it occurs as a common weed and is cultivated for food, the root of the turnip being used as a vegetable and also fed to cattle and sheep.
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The Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetum) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The polyphagous caterpillars are classed among the most destructive of agricultural pests. The adults fly in two generations from May to July and August to October.
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The turnstone (Arenaria intepres) is a shore-living bird of the plover family Charadridae, found nearly all over the world. It is about the size of a snipe, but has shorter legs and bill, and takes its name from the habit of turning over stones on the sea shore in search of small crustaceans which it eats. The turnstone has black and white plumage on its head and neck, black and chesynut on its upper parts and a breast banded with greyish black. The turnstone breeds in the Arctic before visiting Britain bewteen August and the following May.
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Turtle is a popular name for various species of freshwater and marine reptiles related to the tortoises and belonging to the order Chelonia. Marine turtles are generally herbivores, feeding mainly on sea grasses, however freshwater species eat a range of animals including worms, frogs, and fish. They are all excellent swimmers, having legs that are modified to oar like flippers but which make them awkward on land. The shell is more streamlined and lighter than that of the tortoise. Species include the green turtle Chelonia mydas; the loggerhead Caretta caretta; the giant leathery or leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea, which can weigh half a tonne; and the hawksbill Eretmochelys imbricata, which is hunted for its shell which provides the tortoiseshell, used in jewellery and ornaments, and is now an endangered species. Other turtles suffer because their eggs are taken by collectors and their breeding sites are regularly destroyed, often for tourist developments.
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The turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is a species of small migratory pigeon, which visits Great Britain in the summer. It has a reddish tinge on the head and neck, a black and white collar, rusty red wings with black spots, and a dusky tail. It is about thirty centimetres in length. The turtle dove arrives in April, and is not uncommon in the south and Midland counties of England but is rather rare in the west counties, in Wales and in Ireland; and it does not visit Scotland. It lives in woods, where it usually nests in low trees and hedges and is extremely shy and wary.
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The turtle-dove (Turtur) is a genus of pigeons, which includes a number of Old World species. In habits, the turtle-doves generally resemble the true pigeons of the genus Columba; but their colouration is browner and they are considerably smaller.
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Tussac Grass or tussock grass (Aira caespitosa, Festuca fllabellata and Dactylis coespitosa) is a large growing hardy perennial grass of the order Gramineae native to the Falkland Islands, from where it was introduced to Scotland and other parts of Britain as a cattle food. It grows to a height of two metres with long tapering, leathery leaves, stout, smooth leafy stems and flowers borne in a plume-like cluster, many-branched bearing shining purplish spikelets.
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Tussilago is a genus of British plants belonging to the family Compositae.
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The tussock moth (Dasychira pudibunda) is an insect whose larva is sometimes destructive to hops. The caterpillar is green, with transverse black markings and has tufts, or tussocks of hair on most of the segments. The moth is of a greyish colour, and is about two centimetres long.
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Twayblade (Listera ovata) is a perennial herb of the natural order Orchidaceae, native to Europe and Siberia. It has fleshy roots without tubers and two large, broadly elliptic leaves. The stem ends in a very long spray of small, yellow-green flowers with a long, narrow lip ending in two lobes.
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The Twenty-plume (Alucita hexadactyla) is a rare moth of the family Alucitidae with a wing span of between 12 and 14 mm found in Europe flying at night in August, and then after hibernating flying again from spring to May.
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The Twin-spot Carpet (Perizoma didymata) is a moth of the family Geometridae with a wing span of between 18 and 23 mm found in central and non-polar northern Europe flying from June to September.
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The Twin-spot Fritillary (Brenthis hecate) is a species of brush-footed butterfly (Nymphalidae) found locally in southern and south-western Europe in forest steppes and grassy hillsides where the caterpillar's food plant - Dorycnium - occurs.
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The Twin-spotted Wainscot (Archanara geminpuncta) is a moth of the family Noctuidae with a wing span of between 27 and 32 mm found in temperate Europe flying from June to August.
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The Two Spot Ladybird (Adalia bipunctata) is a common species of variously coloured ladybird found in Britain and Europe.
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The two-spot wood-borer (Agrilus pannonicus) is a species of jewel beetle (Buprestidae). The species is a relatively large species of the genus Agrilus characterised by a white streak behind the middle of each elytron. They vary in colour, being blue, green or gold.
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The Two-Striped Garter Snake (Thamnophis hammondi) is a species of American Garter snake growing to about 90 centimetres in length and distinguished by the lack of a mid-dorsal stripe.
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Tychius is a genus of Snout Beetles (Curculionidae) that live on wild peas and vetches.
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Tychus is a genus of beetles of the family Pselaphidae. They have a blackish- brown coloured elytra, often a lighter reddish brown colour in the centre and are found in fallen leaves.
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Typha are a genus of marsh plants belonging to the family Typhaceae. They bear spadixes of male and of female flowers, which closely resemble one another in appearance.
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Typhaceae is a family plants with monoecious arrangement of small flowers, borne in spadixes. They are frequenters of watersides and marshy ground in various parts of the temperate and tropical regions of the world. The female flowers are succeeded by subdrupaceous or membranous fruits.
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Typhaea is a genus of beetle of the family Mycetophagidae.
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Typhaeus is a genus of dung beetle of the family Scarabaeidae. The eggs are laid in underground galleries close to, but not on, dung which the larvae eat upon hatching.
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Typhlopidae is the 'blind snake' family of reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (snakes). The family contains roughly 240 species in three or more genera which are most abundant in Africa and Asia. Members of the family have the rostal scale overhanging the mouth to form a shovel-like structure which is used for burrowing. The eyes are covered by enlarged scales and only the upper jaw is furnished with teeth. The tail is short and ends with a horn-like scale. Most of the species are oviparous.
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Typhlops is a genus of blind snake of the family Typhlopidae. Typhlops schlegeli is an insect and small invertebrate eating, oviparous snake, reaching about 70 centimetres in length.
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Tyrannosaurus was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. It was the largest of all the carnivorous dinosaurs, fourteen metres long, and walked on its hind legs with its back level, its head raised and its body balanced by holding the tail stiffly out behind. Tyrannosaurus had a large head, one and a half metres long, furnished with large, sharp teeth up to 18 centimetres long. A few remains of Tyrannosaurus were discovered in the 19th century, but it was 1902 before a fairly good skeleton was found, and in 1908 a more complete skeleton was discovered.
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Tyrant-birds (Tyrannida) are a family of New World Passerine birds, which extend from the Arctic regions to Tierra del Fuego, but are most abundant in South America. The birds are insectivorous, and in appearance and habits somewhat resemble the shrikes.
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Tyrus is a genus of beetles of the family Pselaphidae found under bark and in rotting wood.
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Tytonidae is the Barn Owl sub-family of birds of the Owl family Strigidae.
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Tytthaspis is the Sixteen Spot Ladybird genus of ladybird (Coccinellidae). They are small ladybirds, about three millimetres in length, yellow with black spots.
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