Brăn’chi-ŏs’te-gal or Brăn’chi-ŏs’te-goûs, a.

(brănk’ĭ-), a. [Fr. branchiostège, Gr. βράγχιον, gill, and στέγειν, to cover.] (Compar. Anat.) Pertaining to the branchiostege.

☞ This term was early applied also to a group of fishes having boneless branchiæ. But the arrangement was unnatural, and is rejected. Dana.