[f. LITHO- + CYST.]

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  1.  Zool. One of the sacs containing mineral particles found in certain Medusæ, and supposed to be organs of hearing.

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1859.  Huxley, Oceanic Hydrozoa, 24. Every appendage (except the hydrothecæ and lithocysts) commences its existence as a cæcal process of the ectoderm and endoderm.

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1870.  Nicholson, Man. Zool., 92. The margin of the umbrella is furnished with a series of … ‘lithocysts.’

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1877.  Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., iii. 126. There can be little doubt that the lithocysts … are of the nature of auditory organs.

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  2.  Bot. A cell containing crystals of calcium carbonate formed beneath the surface of the leaves of some plants.

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1882.  Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 88. Transitional forms between the imperfect laticiferous vessels of bulb-scales and simple lithocysts which do not contain latex but only raphides.

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