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Webster 1913 Edition
Vorticella
Vorˊti-cel′la
,Noun.
pl. E.
Vorticellas
, L. Vorticellae
. [NL., dim. fr. L.
vortex
. See Vortex
.] (Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of ciliated Infusoria belonging to
Vorticella
and many other genera of the family Vorticellidae
. They have a more or less bell-shaped body with a circle of vibrating cilia around the oral disk. Most of the species have slender, contractile stems, either simple or branched.