Brachiopoda
animals with armlike feet; one of the great classes into which the molluscous sub-kingdom of the animal kingdom is divided. The brachiopoda are bivalves, with one shell on the back of the animal, and the other in front; these are called dorsal and ventral valves. The two valves are never equal in size. They differ from the conchifera (called also lamelli branchiata), or ordinary bivalves, in uniformly having one side of the same valve symmetrical with the other. The organization of the brachiopoda is inferior to that of the true bivalves. They are attached to bodies by a pedicle which passes as the wick does in an antique lamp, whence the older naturalists called them lamp shells. The shell is lined by an expansion of the integument or mantle. They are all marine, BRACHYTERÆ occurring chiefly in the deep sea. The families are: (1) Terebratulidæ, (2) spiriferidæ, (3) rhynconellidæ, (4) or thidæ, (5) productidæ, (6) craniadæ, (7) discinidæ, and (8) lingulidæ.
BRACHYTERÆ (short winged), a name given to a family of web-footed birds, penguins, auks, divers, guillemots, etc., in which the wings are short and the legs placed far back in the body. They are all strong divers and swimmers.