gastraea Meaning, Definition & Usage

Gas*træ"a noun (Also<
  • Gastraea
  • Gastræa
)
Etymology
NL., from Gr. , , the stomach.
Definitions
  1. (Biol.) 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.

Webster 1913