baculite

[ bak-yuh-lahyt ]

noun

1. any ammonite of the genus Baculites, of the Cretaceous Period, having a straight shell with a spiral tip.

Other Words From

• bac·u·lit·ic [bak-y, uh, -, lit, -ik], adjective
• bacu·loid noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of baculite¹

1815–25; < Latin bacul ( um ) walking stick, staff + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Baculite, bak′ū-līt, n. a genus of fossil shells, allied to the ammonites, having a shell of perfectly straight form, tapering to a point.

From Project Gutenberg

We no longer meet with a single example of the Turrilite, the Baculite, the Hamite, the Scaphite, or the Ammonite.

From Project Gutenberg

The Baculite is the simplest of all the forms of the Ammonitidœ; and all the other forms, however complex, may be regarded as being simply produced by the bending or folding of such a conical septate shell in different ways.

From Project Gutenberg

The Baculite, therefore, corresponds, in the series of the Ammonitidœ, to the Orthoceras in the series of the Nautilidœ.

From Project Gutenberg

But M. Hebert found in this formation at Montereau, near Paris, the Pecten quadricostatus, a well-known Cretaceous species, together with some other fossils common to the Maestricht chalk and to the Baculite limestone of the Cotentin, in Normandy.

From Project Gutenberg