repr. Gr. βλαστο- stem and comb. form of βλαστός sprout, germ. Used as the first element in many technical terms, chiefly in Biology, with the sense of ‘germ’ or ‘bud.’ Thus Blastocarpous a. Bot. [Gr. καρπός fruit], of the nature of a seed that germinates before escaping from the pericarp. Blastocele [κελίς spot], the germinal spot. Blastocheme [ὄχημα vehicle], a Medusa in which a generative body is developed in the radiating canals. Blastochyle [χῦλος juice], the clear mucilaginous fluid in the embryonal sac of the ovule of plants. Blastocœle [κοῖλος hollow], the central cavity that forms in the ovum after segmentation. Blastocolla Bot., [κόλλα glue], the gummy substance that coats certain buds, as those of the horse-chestnut. Blastocyst, Blastocystinx [κύστις bladder, κύστιγξ little bladder], the germinal vesicle, BLASTODERM. Blastodisc, the germinal disc of the ovum of birds. Blastogenesis, reproduction by buds. Blastogeny, Hæckel’s term for the evolution of bodily form, the ‘germ-history of persons.’ Blastography, the scientific description of the buds of plants. Blastomere [Gr. μέρος part], each of the segments into which the impregnated ovum at first divides. Blastophor [Gr. -φορος -bearing, -bearer], a more or less centrally placed portion of the spermatospore, which is not used up in the process of division to form spermatoblasts, but serves to carry these; hence Blastophoral a., as in blastophoral cell. Blastophore Bot., Richard’s name for the part of the embryo with a large radicle which bears the bud. Blastophyly [Gr. φῡλή tribe], Hæckel’s term for the ‘tribal history of persons.’ Blastopore [πόρος passage], the orifice produced by the invagination of a point on the surface of a blastula, or blastosphere, to form the enteron. Blastosphere, a name for the impregnated ovum, when after segmentation, it has acquired a blastocœle and blastoderm. Blastostroma [Gr. στρῶμα a stratum, a bed], the germinal area. Blastostyle [στῦλος pillar], a stalk upon which gonophores or generative buds are developed in the Hydrozoa.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., iv. 213. The central cavity of the body of the embryo Tænia simply represents a *blastocœle.
1883. Knowledge, 24 Aug., 123/2. A mass of nucleated cells … within which there is a cavity or blastocœle.
1876. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), IV. 81. The *blastocolla, which covers the bud.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., Introd. 16. Tracing the several germ layers back to the *blastomeres of the yelk.
1881. Jrnl. Microsc. Soc., Jan., 147. There are two kinds of blastomeres, the larger form the lower half of the egg, the smaller ones the upper half.
1880. Huxley, Cray-Fish, iv. 499. Its external opening termed the *blastopore. Ibid. (1877), Anat. Inv. Anim., iil. 131. In some *blastostyles … the ectoderm splits into two layers.
