Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/302

DINICHTHYS. of the United States Geological Survey, vol. xvi. Washington, 1890); Dean, Fishes, Living and Fossil (New York, 1895); Dean, “Contributions to the Anatomy of Dinichthys,” etc., in Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. xv. (1896); vol. xii. (1894); and vol. xvi. (1895). See .  DINIZ DA CRUZ E SILVA,, (1731-99) . A Portuguese poet born in Lisbon. He is considered one of the revivers of the poetry of Portugal, and has been given the name of the ‘Portuguese Pindar.’ The works of Diniz are full of local color, and his odes are really fine. O Hyssope (1802, and frequently since) has been translated into English and French. His collected works are entitled Poesias (1807-17).  DIN′KA (native name Jyeng). The largest negro tribe of the Egyptian Sudan, living on both sides of the White Nile between latitudes 12° and 6° N. They live chiefly from their numerous herds of cattle. The men go perfectly naked, and both sexes extract the two upper incisor teeth. Being brave warriors, they furnish the best material for the Sudanese regiments. The most complete grammar of their language is that of Mitterrutzner (Brixen, 1866). On their manners and customs, consult Schweinfurth, In the Heart of Africa, translated by Frewer (London, 1873); Kaufmann, Schilderungen aus Central Afrika (Brixen, 1862).  DINKARD, (Pahlavi Dīnkarṭ, acts of religion). A collection of facts concerning the Zoroastrian religion, compiled shortly after the Mohammedan conquest of Persia.  DIN′MONT, . An eccentric border farmer in Scott's Guy Mannering. An upland sheep-raiser of the author's acquaintance named Willie Elliot, of Millburnholm, was probably the original of the character.  DINO COMPAGNI, . See .  DINOCERAS, . See .  DINOC′RATES (Lat., from Gk. Deinokratēs). A Greek architect of the time of Alexander the Great. According to Vitruvius, he visited the camp of Alexander with letters of introduction, but was unable to secure an audience. Relying upon his athletic figure, he at length decked himself in the costume of Heracles, with lion's skin and club, and thus attracted the notice of the King. He then proposed to Alexander to carve the huge mass of Mount Athos into a human figure, holding a city in one hand and a vessel of water in the other. The work was never attempted, but Dinocrates was taken into the favor of the King, and employed as architect in the foundation of Alexandria. He was also employed by the Ephesians in the reconstruction of the Temple of (q.v.). The story that he designed a temple of Arsinoë, wife of Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, in which an iron statue of the Queen was to be held suspended by a loadstone roof, is, on chronological grounds, impossible. <section end="Dinocrates" /><section begin="Dinornis" /> DINOR′NIS (Neo-Lat., from Gk., deinos, terrible + , ornis, bird). A genus of gigantic, recently extinct, ratite birds, the typical moas, taken as the type-genus of the family Dinornithidæ. See ;. <section end="Dinornis" /><section begin="Dinosauria" /> DINOSAU′RIA (Neo-Lat., from Gk., deinos, terrible + , sauros, lizard). An order of fossil reptiles found only in rocks of Mesozoic age, and containing some of the most wonderful and bizarre land animals that have ever lived. In general, the dinosaurs present the same reptilian characters as do the crocodilians and pterosaurians, which have been derived from the same original stock, and within the order the form is so variable that it is difficult to find reliable distinctive characters. The more primitive genera can scarcely be distinguished from the generalized crocodiles, others resemble the rhynchocephalians, others the pterosaurians, and still others are far removed by specialization along particular lines and afford most remarkable and extravagant forms. The closest living allies of the dinosaurs are the crocodiles and the ratite birds (ostrich, etc.), which, with the more primitive dinosaurs, were probably descended from a common ancestral stock in early Triassic times.

The skeleton of dinosaurs presents some variations from that of other reptiles. The cranium has two temporal vacuities, the vertebræ are usually double concave, though several anterior vertebræ in the more primitive genera may be concave on the posterior surface only; the sacrum is usually of three or five fused vertebræ, but the normal reptilian number, two, is found in the primitive forms. The pelvis is of bird-like structure, often with anterior and posterior elongation of the elements. The limbs are fitted for locomotion on land; the forward pair is often reduced in size so that locomotion is bipedal. Reduction of the number of toes on the hind feet to three is common. In some gigantic genera the tail was unusually strong and with the hind limbs formed a tripod support for the animal, which was thus enabled to raise its head to a height sometimes of thirty feet above the ground, and to overlook the vegetation of the marshes in which it wallowed. The dentition of dinosaurs is fitted for both carnivorous and herbivorous food. Beak-like structure of the jaws is common. The teeth are often implanted in sockets and in some genera they appear in successional series. The head of dinosaurs is usually disproportionately small, and the brain is always of very small size and low degree of convolution, indicating an inferior grade of intelligence in these animals. In some forms with small head, long neck, heavy body and hind quarters, and<section end="Dinosauria" />