Bathybius

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Bathybius \Ba*thyb"i*us\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. baqy`s deep + bi`os
     life] (Zool.)
     A name given by Prof. Huxley to a gelatinous substance found
     in mud dredged from the Atlantic and preserved in alcohol. He
     supposed that it was free living protoplasm, covering a large
     part of the ocean bed. It is now known that the substance is


     of chemical, not of organic, origin.
     [1913 Webster]