Anom´aly, a deviation from the common rule. In astronomy, the angle which a line drawn from a planet to the sun has passed through since the planet was last at its perihelion or nearest distance to the sun. The anomalistic year is the interval between two successive times at which the earth is in perihelion, or 365 days 6 hours 13 minutes 48 seconds. In consequence of the advance of the earth's perihelion among the stars in the same direction as the earth's motion, and of the precession of the equinoxes, which carries the equinoxes back in the opposite direction to the earth's motion, the anomalistic year is about 4 minutes 40 seconds longer than the sidereal year, and about 25 minutes longer than the tropical or common year. The time of a complete revolution of the perihelion is computed at 108,000 years.
Anomu´ra, a section of the crustaceans of the ord. Decapoda, with irregular tails not formed to assist in swimming, including the hermit-crabs and others.
Ano´na, a genus of plants, the type of the nat. ord. Anonaceæ. A. squamōsa (sweet-sop) grows in the West Indian Islands, and yields an edible fruit having a thick, sweet, luscious pulp. A. muricāta (sour-sop) is cultivated in the West and East Indies; it produces a large pear-shaped fruit, of a greenish colour, containing an agreeable slightly-acid pulp. The genus produces other edible fruits, as the common custard-apple or bullock's heart, from A. reticulāta, and the cherimoyer of Peru, from A. Cherimolia.
Anona´ceæ, a nat. ord. of trees and shrubs, having simple, alternate leaves, destitute of stipules, by which character they are distinguished from the Magnoliaceæ, to which they are otherwise closely allied. They are mostly tropical plants of the Old and the New World, and are generally aromatic. See Anona.
Anoplothe´rium, an extinct genus of the Ungulata or Hoofed Quadrupeds, forming the type of a distinct family, which were in many respects intermediate between the swine and the true ruminants. These animals were pig-like in form, but possessed long tails, and had a cleft hoof, with two rudimentary toes. Some of them were as small as a guinea-pig, others as large as an ass. Six incisors, two canines, eight premolars, and six molars existed in each jaw, the series being continuous, no interval existing in the jaw. A. commūne, from the Eocene rocks, is a familiar species.
Anoplu´ra, an order of apterous insects, of which the type is the genus Pedicŭlus or louse,
Anopshehr. See Anupshahr.
Anorexia. See Appetite.