Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AS'TRITE, n. [Gr. αστηρ, a star; Fr. astroite.]

An extraneous fossil, called also asteria and astroit. Astrites are stones in the form of small, short, angular, or sulcated columns, about an inch and a half long, and the third of an inch in diameter, composed of several regular joints, which, when separated, resemble a radiated star. – Encyc. Astrites are said to be detached articulations of encrinites, a kind of marine polypier.