a. and sb. Zool. [f. mod.L. Ascidia (see ASCIDIUM) + -AN.] A. adj. Of or pertaining to the Ascidia (or Ascidiæ), a group of animals belonging to the tunicate Mollusca, considered by evolutionists to constitute a link in the development of the Vertebrata. B. sb. A member of this group. ǁ Ascidiarium [see -ARIUM], the aggregate mass of organisms in compound Ascidians. Ascidioid a., resembling the Ascidia. Ascidiozooid, one of the organisms forming an ascidiarium.
1856. Woodward, Man. Mollusca, III. 332. The relation between the ascidian test and mantle is that of the epidermis and the cutis vera.
1835. Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., I. vi. 192. The Tunicaries or Ascidians as some call them.
1874. Helps, Soc. Press., ix. 136. If he started as a gelatinous ascidian, how he has got on in the world!
1878. N. Amer. Rev., CXXVII. 58. Our ascidian forefathers.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., x. 610. In the compound or social Tunicata many ascidiozooids … are united by a common test into an ascidiarium.
1880. Syd. Soc. Lex., s.v. Ascidia, The tunicate or ascidioid Division of the Mollusca.
