||Brach`i*a"ta (&?;), n. pl. [See Brachiate.] (Zoöl.) A division of the Crinoidea, including those furnished with long jointed arms. See Crinoidea.
Brach"i*ate (&?;), a. [L. brachiatus (bracch-) with boughs or branches like arms, from brackium (bracch-) arm.] (Bot.) Having branches in pairs, decussated, all nearly horizontal, and each pair at right angles with the next, as in the maple and lilac.
Brach`i*og"a*noid (&?;), n. One of the Brachioganoidei.
||Brach`i*o*ga*noid"e*i (&?;), n. pl. [NL., from L. brachium (bracch-) arm + NL. ganoidei.] (Zoöl.) An order of ganoid fishes of which the bichir of Africa is a living example. See Crossopterygii.
||Brach`i*o*la"ri*a (&?;), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. brachiolum (bracch-), dim. of brachium (bracch-) arm.] (Zoöl.) A peculiar early larval stage of certain starfishes, having a bilateral structure, and swimming by means of bands of vibrating cilia.
Brach"i*o*pod (&?;), n. [Cf.F. brachiopode.] (Zoöl.) One of the Brachiopoda, or its shell.
||Brach`i*op"o*da (&?;), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; arm + -poda.] (Zoöl.) A class of Molluscoidea having a symmetrical bivalve shell, often attached by a fleshy peduncle.
Within the shell is a pair of "arms," often long and spirally coiled, bearing rows of ciliated tentacles by which a current of water is made to flow into the mantle cavity, bringing the microscopic food to the mouth between the bases of the arms. The shell is both opened and closed by special muscles. They form two orders; Lyopoma, in which the shell is thin, and without a distinct hinge, as in Lingula; and Arthropoma, in which the firm calcareous shell has a regular hinge, as in Rhynchonella. See Arthropomata.
||Brach"i*um (&?;), n.; pl. Bracchia (&?;). [L. brachium or bracchium, arm.] (Anat.) The upper arm; the segment of the fore limb between the shoulder and the elbow.