Part 617

||E*chid"na (*kd"n), n. [L., a viper, adder, Gr. 'e`chidna.] 1. (Gr. Myth.) A monster, half maid and half serpent.

2. (Zoöl.) A genus of Monotremata found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They are toothless and covered with spines; -- called also porcupine ant-eater, and Australian ant-eater.

E*chid"nine (?; 104), n. [See Echidna.] (Chem.) The clear, viscid fluid secreted by the poison glands of certain serpents; also, a nitrogenous base contained in this, and supposed to be the active poisonous principle of the virus. Brande & C.

{ Ech"i*nate (?), Ech"i*na`ted (?), } a. [L. echinatus. See Echinus.] Set with prickles; prickly, like a hedgehog; bristled; as, an echinated pericarp.

E*chi"nid (?), a. & n. (Zoöl.) Same as Echinoid.

E*chin"i*dan (?), n. [Cf. F. échinide.] (Zoöl.) One the Echinoidea.

E*chin"i*tal (?), a. Of, or like, an echinite.

Ech"i*nite (?), n. [Cf. F. échinite. See Echinus.] (Paleon.) A fossil echinoid.

||E*chi`no*coc"cus (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; hedgehog, sea urchin + &?; grain, seed. So called because forming little granular bodies, each armed with hooklets and disposed upon the inner wall of the hydatid cysts.] (Zoöl.) A parasite of man and of many domestic and wild animals, forming compound cysts or tumors (called hydatid cysts) in various organs, but especially in the liver and lungs, which often cause death. It is the larval stage of the Tænia echinococcus, a small tapeworm peculiar to the dog.

E*chin"o*derm` (?), n. (Zoöl.) One of the Echinodermata.

E*chi`no*der"mal (?), a. (Zoöl.) Relating or belonging to the echinoderms.

||E*chi`no*der"ma*ta (*k`n*dr"m*t), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. 'echi^nos hedgehog, sea urchin + de`rma, -atos, skin.] (Zoöl.) One of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom. By many writers it was formerly included in the Radiata. [Written also Echinoderma.]

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The species usually have an exterior calcareous skeleton, or shell, made of many pieces, and often covered with spines, to which the name. They may be star-shaped, cylindrical, disk-shaped, or more or less spherical. The body consists of several similar parts (spheromeres) repeated symmetrically around a central axis, at one end of which the mouth is situated. They generally have suckers for locomotion. The group includes the following classes: Crinoidea, Asterioidea, Ophiuroidea, Echinoidea, and Holothurioidea. See these words in the Vocabulary, and also Ambulacrum.

E*chi`no*der"ma*tous (?), a. (Zoöl.) Relating to Echinodermata; echinodermal.

E*chi"noid (?), a. [Echinus + -oid.] (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Echinoidea. -- n. One of the Echinoidea.

||Ech`i*noi"de*a (?), n. pl. [NL. See Echinus, and -oid.] (Zoöl.) The class Echinodermata which includes the sea urchins. They have a calcareous shell, usually more or less spheroidal or disk-shaped, composed of many united plates, and covered with movable spines. See Spatangoid, Clypeastroid. [Written also Echinidea, and Echinoida.]

||E*chi`no*zo"a (*k`n*z"), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. 'echi^nos an echinus + zw^,on an animal.] (Zoöl.) The Echinodermata.

E*chin"u*late (?), a. (Bot. & Zoöl.) Set with small spines or prickles.

||E*chi"nus (?), n.; pl. Echini (#). [L., a hedgehog, sea urchin, Gr. 'echi^nos.] 1. (Zoöl.) A hedgehog.

2. (Zoöl.) A genus of echinoderms, including the common edible sea urchin of Europe.

3. (Arch.) (a) The rounded molding forming the bell of the capital of the Grecian Doric style, which is of a peculiar elastic curve. See Entablature. (b) The quarter-round molding (ovolo) of the Roman Doric style. See Illust. of Column (c) A name sometimes given to the egg and anchor or egg and dart molding, because that ornament is often identified with the Roman Doric capital. The name probably alludes to the shape of the shell of the sea urchin.

||Ech`i*u*roi"de*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. echiurus, the name of one genus (Gr. 'e`chis an adder + o'yra` tail) + -oid.] (Zoöl.) A division of Annelida which includes the genus Echiurus and allies. They are often classed among the Gephyrea, and called the armed Gephyreans.

Ech"o (k"), n.; pl. Echoes (k"z). [L. echo, Gr. 'hchw` echo, sound, akin to 'hchh`, 'h^chos, sound, noise; cf. Skr. vç to sound, bellow; perh. akin to E. voice: cf. F. écho.] 1. A sound reflected from an opposing surface and repeated to the ear of a listener; repercussion of sound; repetition of a sound.

The babbling echo mocks the hounds.

Shak.

The woods shall answer, and the echo ring.

Pope.