ASCITÆ (from ascus a bag or bottle), in antiquity, a fed or branch of Mountanills, who appeared in the second century. They were so called, because they introduced a kind of Bacchanals into their assemblies, who danced round a bag or skin blown up; saying, they were those new bottles filled with new wine whereof our Saviour makes mention, Matth. ix. 17.—They are sometimes also called Acedrogites.