Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AM'MO-DYTE, n. [Gr. αμμος, sand, and δυω, to enter.]

The sand eel, a genus of fish, of the Apodal order, about a foot in length, with a compressed head, a long slender body, and scales hardly perceptible. There is but one species, the Tobianus or lance. It buries itself in the sand, and is found also in the stomach of the porpess, which indicates that the latter fish roots up the sand like a hog. – Encyc. This name is also given to a serpent of the size of a viper, and of a yellowish color, found in Africa; also to a large serpent of Ceylon, of a whitish ash color, and very venomous. – Dict. of Nat. Hist.