Zool. [mod.L. f. Gr. κοιν-ός common + οῖκος house.] The common dermal system of a colony of Polyzoa; a polypary.
1872. H. A. Nicholson, Palæont., 192. The only element of the Polyzoa with which the palæontologist is concerned is the external investment of the colony—the ‘cœnœcium’ or ‘polyzoarium.’
1881. Vines, in Nature, No. 620. 463. Cœnœcium … Applicable alike to the ‘Frond,’ or ‘Polyzoary,’ of Fenestella, Polypora, Phyllopora, or Synocladia: or to the associated Zoœcia and their connecting ‘interstitial tubuli,’ of Ceriopora, Hyphasmapora, and Archæopora.
Hence Cœnœcial a., Cœnœcic a., of or pertaining to a cœnœcium.
1881. Nature, XXIV. 95. The close similarity of the Silurian with the later forms, in the habit of cœnœcic growth.
