NIIMMULITES, or NUMMULINA (Gr. money-fossil), a genus of fossil foraminefera, the shells.of which form immense masses of rock of Eocene age. See NUMMULiTE LIMESTONE. Upwards of 50 species have been described. They are circular bodies of a lenticular shape, varying in magnitude from the merest point to the size of a crown piece. The shell is composed of a series of small chambers arranged in a concentric manner. The growth of the shell does not take place only around the circumference, but each whorl invests all the preceding whorls, so as to form a new layer over the entire surface of the disk, thus adding to the thickness as well as the breadth, and giving the iossil its lenticular form. A. thin intervening space separates each layer from the one which it covers, and this space at the margin swells out to form the chamber. All the Internal cavities, however, seem to have been occupied with the living sarcode, and an intimate . connection was maintained between them by means of innumerable parallel tubuli. which everywhere pass from one surface to .another, and which permitted the passage of the sarcode as freely as do the minute pores or foramina of the living forami• The name is given to them from their resemblance to coins. In Egypt, where the whole of the Mokkadam mountains, from the stone of which the pyramids were built, is formed of them, they are called by the natives " Pharaoh's Pence." NUN, a member of a religious order of women. The etymology of this name is a subject of some controversy, but there seems every reason to believe that it is from a Coptic or Egyptian root, which signifies " virgin." It is found in use as a Latin word as
early as the time of St. Jerome (4. to Ettatachius, p. 22. e. 6). The general character istics of the religious orders will be found under the head MoxAenism (q.v.), and under those of the several orders. It is only necessary here to specify a few particulars peculiar to the religious orders of females. Of these the most striking perhaps is the strictness in the regularly authorized orders of nuns of the "cloister," or inclosure, which no extern is ever permitted to enter, and beyond which the nous are never per mitted to pass, without express leave of the bishop. The superiors of convents of nuns are called by the names abbess, prioress, and, in general, mother superior. They are, ordinarily speaking, elected by chapters of their own body, with the approval of the bishop, unless the convent be one of the' class called exempt houses, which arc immedi ately subject to the authority of the Holy See. The ceremony of the solemn blessing or inauguration of the abbess is reserved to the bishop, or to a priest delegated by the bishop. The authority of the abbess over her nuns is very comprehensive, but a precise line is drawn between her powers and those of the priestly office, from which she is strictly debarred. The name of nun is given in general to the sisters of all religious congregations of females Who live in retirement and are bound by rule; but it is primi tively and properly applicable only to sisters of the religious orders strictly so called.
See SIONACIIISM.