carchesium

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Pl. carchesia (-ä). In classical antiquity, a drinking-vase, resembling the cantharus, but having its bowl narrower in the middle than above and below, and its projecting handles strengthened by being connected with the bowl at about the level of the rim. Also karchesion.
2. n. [capitalized] [NL.] A genus of peritrichous ciliate infusorians, of the family Vorticellidæ. The animalcules are associated in dendriform colonies. C. polypinum is an example.