= Gr. κριο-, comb. form of κριός ram: in some technical terms, as Criocephalous a. [Gr. κεφαλή head], having a ram’s head (said e.g. of a sphinx). Criocerate a. [Gr. κέρας horn], akin to the genus Crioceras of fossil cephalopods, having the whorls discrete, so as to resemble a ram’s horn. Crioceratite, a fossil of the genus Crioceras, a ram’s-horn ammonite. Crioceratitic a., pertaining to, or of the nature of, a crioceratite. Criosphinx, a sphinx having a ram’s head, one of the three types of the Egyptian sphinx.
1832. G. Long, Egypt. Antiq., I. x. 213. A row of criosphinxes … with a ram’s head and lion’s body.
1847. Ansted, Anc. World, x. 244. The shell called Crioceratite … corresponds with the Ammonite, much as the Spirula corresponds with the Nautilus.
