lancelet

(lans’let), n. [ lance. Baret.—2. The sand-lance, amphioxus, or branch ios to me, a skull-le fish-like vertebrate, representing a genus Branch ios tom a or Lancelet (Branch ios tom a pulchellum). Amphioxus, a family Branch ios tom ide or A mph i oxide, an order Pharyngobranchii, a cla Leptocardti, and a ‘branch’ of vertebrates lately named Cep halo chorda. See these names, and A crania. The lancelet is the lowest true vertebrate, furnishing a connecting-Jink with ascidians. It is from about 23 to 3 inches in length, thin and compre ed, sharp at both ends like a spindle, colorle and almost transpa- Lancelet (Branch ios tom a lanceolatum). @,mouth;, pharyngobranchial chamber; c, anus; d, liver; e, abjominal pore, rent, and lives in the sand of the sea-shore in temperate and tropical regions. There are several species, of which the common lancelet is Branch ios tom a lanceolatum. Another, B. pulchellum, has been made the type of a separate genus, Epigon ichthys,