Pelagia (pela jia)

[NL., pelagianl (pe-la'ji-an), a. and n. [L. pelagius = Gr. πελάγιος, pertaining to the sea, II. n. A pelagic animal. Pelagian2 (pē-la'ji-an), a. and n. [ II. n. A follower of Pelagius; one who believes in Pelagian ism. Pelagian ism (pē-lā'ji-an-izm), n. [ Pelagian +-ism.] The doctrines of Pelagius, a British monk (flourished about A. D. 400), and his followers. They held that there was no original sin through Adam, and consequently no hereditary guilt, that every soul is created by God sinle , that the will is absolutely free, and that the grace of God is universal, but is not indispensable; and they rejected infant baptism. Pelagius, how ever, held to the belief in the Trinity and in the personality of Christ. His views were developed by his pupil Cœlestius, but were anathematized by Pope Zosimus A. D. 418. Pelagian ism was the principal anthropological heresy in the early church, and was strongly combated by Pelagius's contemporary Augustine. pelagic (pē-laj'ik), a. [ elagian. - Pelagic birds, the petrel family, Pro cellar i. ida. Pelagic fauna, as used by modern thala ographie zoologists, the fauna living at or near the surface of the ocean at some distance from land. Secondly, The pelagic fish fauna , as defined by the author [John Murray), consists, first, of the truly pelagic fish, those which habitually live on the surface of the ocean. there are a number of fishes inhabiting the depths of the ocean, from a hundred fathoms downwards, which seem periodically to ascend to the surface, po ibly in connection with their propagation. Thirdly, the pelaric fauna receives a very considerable contingent from the littoral fauna. Nature , XLL 217. Pelagic hydrozoans, the Siphonophora . Also called oceanic hydrozoans. Pelagiidæ (pel-a-ji'i-dē), n. pl. [NL.,