rotifer a

pl. [Neut.pl. of Mod. Lat. rotifer, a.=wheel-bearing.] Zool .: Wheel-animalcules; a group of Metazoa, which have been variously cla ified. Ehrenberg arranged them according to the peculiarities of their trochal discs, and Dujardin according to their methods of locomotion. They are now often made a cla of Vermes, with four families, Philodinide, Brach i on ide, Hydatinese, and Floscular ide. They are microscopic animals, contractile, crowned with vibratile cilia at the anterior part of the body, which, by their motion, often resemble a wheel revolving rapidly. Intestine distinct, terminated at one extremity by a mouth, at the other by an anus; generation oviparous, sometimes viviparous. [SUMMER-EGGS.] The nervous system is represented by a relatively large single ganglion, with one or two eye-spots, on one side of the body, near the mouth, and there are organs which appear to be sensory. They are free or adherent, but never absolutely fixed animals. "The Rotifer a as low Metazoa with nascent segmentation, naturally present resemblances to all those groups which in their simpler forms converge toward the lower Metazoa." - Huxley: Anat . Invert . Animals , p. 193. ro-ti-form, a. [Lat.rota=a wheel, and form a = a form.] 1. Ord . Lang .: Shaped like a wheel. 2. Bot .: The same as ROTATE, a . (q. v.). rō-ton-dō, a . [Ital.] Music: Round, full.