agnate (agnat)

and a. [Early mod. E. agnat, agnet, to, belong by birth, be born. Cf. adnate and cognate.] I. n. Specifically, a kinsman whose connection is traceable exclusively through males; more generally, any male relation by the father's side. See agnati. Who are the Agnates? In the first place, they are all the Cognates who trace their connexion exclusively through males. A table of Cognates is, of course, formed by taking each lineal ancestor in turn and including all his descendants of both sexes in the tabular view; if then, in tracing the various branches of such a genealogical table or tree, we stop whenever we come to the name of a female and pursue that particular branch or ramification no further, all who remain after the descendants of women have been excluded are Agnates, and their connexion together is Agnatic Relationship. Maine, Ancient Law, p. 148. II. a. 1. Related or akin on the father's side. -2. Allied in kind; from a common source: as, " agnate words," Pownall , Study of Antiquities, p. 168. [Rare.] Agnatha (ag'na-tha), n. pl. [NL., neut. pl. of agnathus, jawle : see agnathous.] A section of geophilous gastropods destitute of jaws. Agnathi (ag'na-thi), n. pl. [NL., masc. pl. of agnathus, jawle : see agnathous.] A group or series of neuropterous insects, held by some as a suborder of the order Neuroptera: so called because the jaws are rudimentary or obsolete. The wings are naked and not folded in repose, the posterior parate the short, setaceous, and 3-jointed; and abdomen ends in three long, delicate setæ. The group includes the well known May-flies, and is practically identical with the family Ephemerid a.