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Webster 1913 Edition
Hectocotylus
‖
Hecˊto-cot′y-lus
,Noun.
pl.
Hectocotyli
(#)
. [NL., fr. Gr. [GREEK] a hundred + [GREEK] a hollow vessel.]
(Zool.)
One of the arms of the male of most kinds of cephalopods, which is specially modified in various ways to effect the fertilization of the eggs. In a special sense, the greatly modified arm of Argonauta and allied genera, which, after receiving the spermatophores, becomes detached from the male, and attaches itself to the female for reproductive purposes.