Zool. [mod.L. (Gmelin and Lamarck), f. L. vēlum sail.] A genus of siphonophorous oceanic hydrozoans; a member of this genus.
1834. McMurtrie, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 482. The Porpita and Velella … which were formerly joined with the Medusæ.
1860. Wraxall, Life in Sea, x. 243. The Velellæ have a very extended geographical range.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit., 1860, 240. The animals are believed to sleep by day and prey upon the Jelly Fish and Velellas by night.
1882. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., VI. 284. The little Velella … has been compared to a little raft with an obliquely placed upright sail.
Hence Velellidous a., related to Velella.
1845. Encycl. Metrop., VII. 268/1. The Velellidous Acalephs have within their soft substance a cartilaginous or calcareous plate or disc.
