Word Study
gastræa
CIDE DICTIONARY
gastræa, n. [NL., from Gr. , , the stomach.].
A primeval larval form; a double-walled sac from which, according to the hypothesis of Haeckel, man and all other animals, that in the first stages of their individual evolution pass through a two-layered structural stage, or gastrula form, must have descended. This idea constitutes the Gastræa theory of Haeckel. See Gastrula. [1913 Webster]
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