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Webster 1913 Edition


Amphioxus

‖

Amˊphi-ox′us

,
Noun.
[NL., fr. Gr.
ἀμφί
+ [GREEK] sharp.]
(Zool.)
A fishlike creature (
Amphioxus lanceolatus
), two or three inches long, found in temperature seas; – also called the
lancelet
. Its body is pointed at both ends. It is the lowest and most generalized of the vertebrates, having neither brain, skull, vertebræ, nor red blood. It forms the type of the group
Acrania
,
Leptocardia
, etc.