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LEFT DIPPEL 372 DIPTERA cranial bones and a lower jaw, but the notochord is persistent, and there are no vertebral centra, nor an occipital condyle. The exo-skeleton consists of horny, over- lapping scales, having the cycloid char- acter. The pectoral and ventral limbs are both present, but have (in Lepido- siren) the form of awl-shaped, filiform, many-jointed organs of which the former only have a membranous fringe inferi- orly. Until recently the only two mem- bers of the order were the Lepidosiren paradoxa of South America, and the L. annectens of Africa, DIPPEIi, (JOHANN) ANDREAS, an operatic singer and manager, born in Cassel, Germany, in 1866. He was edu- cated in the public schools and for some time was engaged in business. He after- ward studied music in Berlin, Milan, and Vienna. His first appearance was made in Bremen in 1887. After a successful career in Europe, he appeared in the Metropolitan Opera House in 1890. He later made concert tours throughout the United States. He sang at the Metro- politan Opera House from 1898 to 1910, at the same time acting as administrator and manager of the Chicago Grand Opera Company. He was the general manager of this company from 1910 to 1913 and was also manager of the same company in the years following. He died in 1919. DIPPER, a genus of birds in the thrush family (Turdidse), distinguished by an almost straight, compressed sharp- pointed bill, by the possession of a nostril valve, and still more by their peculiar manners and habits. They frequent clear, pebbly streams and lakes, feeding chiefly on mollusks and equatic insects and their larvae. The dipper carries its rather short tail elevated after the man- ner of virrens, which it also resembles in the dipping of the head. DIPPER, a name given to the seven stars in the constellation of the Great Bear, from their being arranged in the form of a dipper, or ladle. DIPPING NEEDLE, a magnetized needle, moving in a vertical plane, on an axis which passes at right angles exactly through the center of gravity. When thus mounted it will, if placed anywhere not in the magnetic equator, dip or point downward. The position of the magnetic pole can thus be determined from the intersection of two or more lines formed by making experiments with the dipping needle at various places. The inclination or dip of the magnetized needle was not known to the Chinese, who had discovered its variation during the 12th century. This element of ter- restrial magnetism appears to have been discovered by Robert Norman, a com- pass-maker of Ratcliff, London, who de- tected the dip, and published the fact in 1576. He contrived the dipping needle, and found the dip at London to be 71° 50'. Sir James Ross reached the mag- netic pole, lat 70° 5' 17" N., and Ion. 96° 46' 45" W., on June 1, 1831. The amount of dip was 89° 59'. DIPROTODON, a gigantic pachyder- moid marsupal mammal, resembling in most essential respects the kangaroo, the dentition especially showing many points of affinity. It is found in the Pleisto- cene or Upper Tertiary beds of Aus- tralia. DIPSACE^, the Teazel family, a natural order of exogenous plants, con- sisting of herbs or undershrubs. They are found in the S. of Europe, the Le- vant, and the Cape of Good Hope. Lind- ley enumerates 6 genera and 160 species. DIPSAS, a genus of non-venomous serpents of the family Colubri formes. They are nocturnal, arboreal animals, feeding chiefly on lizards, frogs and small birds, and are most abundant in neo- tropical and Oriental regions. DIPSOMANIA, a term denoting an insane craving for intoxicating liquors, when occurring in a confirmed or habit- ual form. It is often of hereditary origin, but may result from sunstroke, from some injury to the brain, or from disease. The only remedy appears to be seclusion, with enforced abstinence and healthy occupation. Homes for this pur- pose have been established in Great Britain under the Habitual Drunkards Act of 1879. A number of correspond- ing institutions have long existed in the United States. DIPTERA, an order of two-winged in- sects, of which the common house-fly and blue-bottle are familiar examples. They are characterized by a body with slight coriaceous coverings, a trunk open beneath, and containing a sucker com- posed of two, four, or six lancet-shaped elongated scales, two palpi, antennae al- most always composed of three joints, large eyes, an abdomen of four to seven distinct segments, tarsi with five joints, and two short clubbed appendages called halteres, or balancers, which seem to be the rudiments of the posterior pair in four-winged insects, and are kept in con- tinual motion. All undergo complete metamorphosis, and all are oviparous except the Sarcophaga, which issue from their mother in shape of larvae; and the Pupipara, which first make their appearance as nymphs.