‖ volvox Bot.
(ˈvɒlvɒks)
[mod.L., f. L. volvĕre to roll.]
A genus of fresh-water organisms having a spherical form and provided with cilia which enable them to roll over in the water; an individual of this genus.
Volvox as the name of a vine-fretter in Holland Pliny (1601) I. 547 is derived from old editions of the Nat. Hist. xvii. xxviii, which have volvocem in place of volucre(m).
| 1798 Tilloch's Philos. Mag. I. 212 Girod Chantram..even distinguished in one species of conferva a real volvox, which had some similarity to the rotator of Gmelin. 1864 H. J. Slack in Intell. Observer V. 183 In one of my specimens I found a small volvox apparently uninjured. 1884 Edin. Rev. Oct. 373 It would now seem that the celestial spaces have also their volvoxes and diatoms. |