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ebullition. Lime-water diflolves it flowly, and carries it to the furface; and alum- water, in like manner, on diflblving it is covered with a thick fcum at the top : Corrofive fublimate added to this, precipitates the fait again, without altering its colour. Spirit of fal armoniac, and oil of tartar, make no change upon it. It is remarkable, that this plant contains no volatile fait.
Muscus Marinus latus, the broad and flat fea Mofs, a fea-plant defcribed by Count Marfigli. It is feund in feveral places at different depths, growing to the rocks and ftones Its upper furface is compofed of a feries of leaves of an auriculated fi- gure, amaflcd together in an irregular manner ; but its under- lide is fmooth and even, except that it is befet with a num- ber of foft points or eminences, which are not eafily diftin- guiflied by the naked eye. Thefe, when a microfcope is ufed, are found to be fo many little white tubes of a cylin- dric figure ; thefe are evidently the apertures by which the plant receives its nourifhment ; for in this, as in the other fea- plants in general, when the root fattens upon a rock or ftonc, it is not to extract nourifhment from it, but only to fix it- felf firm in its place by it ; for the whole furface of the plant takes in nourifhment from the circumambient water, and every part acts as a root receiving fupplies for the whole. Marfigli^ Hift. Mer, p. 73. See the article Moss,
MUSEAU, in natural hiftory, a term applied by Mr. de Reau- mur to a fort of bladder which the infects of the fly clafs are provided with to make their way out of their fhell, after their laft transformation into the nymph ftate. The word is French, and literally fignifies a fnoutor muzzle. The flies to whom nature has given this inftrument, have it only during that fhort ftage of their lives which is between their being enclofed in the membrane which, covers them in the nymph ffate, and their firft flying about at liberty. At this time, in order to their getting out of their fhell, nature gives them a power of inflating and f welling out their head to a great fizc, and throwing out this fort of bladder from its anterior part, by which means the cap of the cafe or fhell is thrown off, and the end of it opened by the two longitudinal lines giving way. The creature, after this, as it has no ufe for this Angular piece of mechanifm, fo it has no power to ex- ert it during the remainder of its life. Reaumur, Hift. Inf. vol. 4. p. 340. See the article Transformation. _
MUSEBYTER, in zoology, a name given by fome to the fifli called by authors Dokuia, a German fifh, found in feveral parts of Germany ; much approaching to our common dace, JVillughbfs Hift, Pifc. p. 26 1 .
MUSEIA, M«rna, in antiquity, fcftivals in honour of the mufes at feveral places of Greece, efpecially among the Thefpians, where folemn games were celebrated ever)' fifth year. Potter Archaeol. Grsec. 1. 2. c. 20. T. r. p. 415. The Macedonians had alfo a feftival in honour of Jupiter and the mufes, which was celebrated with ftage-plays and games, and lafted nine days, according to the number of the mufes. Patter, ibid.
MUSHROOM, Fungus, in botany, the name of a genus of plants ; the characters of which are thefe. It is a headed ve- getable compofed of a pedicle crowned with a broad head, which is convex and fmooth at the top, and hollow, foliated, Iamellated or fiftulous on the other fide. See Tab. 1. of Bo- tany, Clafs 17.
The fpecies of Fungus, enumerated by Mr. Tourncfort, are thefe: I. The common efculent Muflwoom, with a broad roundhead. 2. The Mujlwoom with broad and round livid heads. 3. The large fweet-fcented royal MuJJ)roo?n. 4. The white Mujhroom, with a broad orbiculatcd head. 5. The yellow Fungus, with a flat ftalk, and rounded head. 6. The flatted round and hairy-headed Fungus. 7. The red- difh brown fmooth orbicular-headed Fungus. 8. The large flat orbiculated headed Fungus, with rough prominent veins. g. The great Fungus, with a protuberant head variegated on the upper fide, and hairy underneath. 10. The plain-headed brown Fungus, with lacerated edges. 11. The broad-headed Fungus, with a long variegated pedicle. 12. The round- headed fpring Mujhroom. 13. The white-headed meadow Mujhroom. 14. The flat round-headed yellow Mujbreom,
15. The white and brown furrowed round-headed Fungus.
16. The brown bulbofe Fungus, with a double head. 17. The brownifh white Fungus, with pointed heads. 18. The fmall umbilicated Fungus, ig. The variegated navel Mujh- rooni. 20. The orbicular Fungus, with the edges bent in- wards. 21. The angular Mujhroom, with jagged edges. 22. The thick porous Mujhroom. 23. The white wood Mujhroom, with an acrid pepper-like milky juice. 24. The broad fcarlet-headcd Mujhroom, with a fwect and wcll-tafted milky juice. 25. The little milk Mujhroom, with very long and llendcr pedicles. 26. The great all-white efculent Mujh- room. 27- The white Mujhroam, called bifette. 28. The great-headed Mujhroom, with heads brown on the upper fide, and white underneath, and with a fpotted ftalk. 29. The yellowifh red Fungus, with greenifh gills. 30. The great reddifh Mujhroom, with a fhort thick ftalk, and white gills, 31. The Iamellated Mujliroom, with a broad thin and mem- branaceous head. 32, The yellow and white fmall vifcid meadow Fungus, 33. The red fmall vifcid meadow Mujli-
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room. 34. The fmall tender dufty Mujhroom, with heads grey on the upper fide, and covered on the under fide with thin black lamella?. 35. The fmall Fungus, with a long pe- dicle, and a half-round yellowifh head. 36. The fmall Mujh- room, with a long tough and firm ftalk, and a head pointed at the top, and fhewing the fhell of the gills on the out-fide. 37. The fmall Fungus, with a long ftalk, and a head ftriated on both fides. 38. The very fmall Fungus, with a conic reddifh brown head, and a few lamellae. 39. The very fmall whitifh grey Fimgus, with a long flender pedicle, and but few lamellae. 40. The dufky brown Mujhroom, with heads pointed at the top. 41. The conic-headed orange-coloured Fungus. 42. The yellow Fungus, growing in clufters about the roots of trees. 43. The brownifh Fungus, growing in cluf- . ters on rotten wood. 44. The white mining Fungus, grow- ing many together. 45. The larger fhield-fafhioncd Fungus. 46. The fmaller fhield-fafhioned Fimgus. 47. The red or- biculated marfh Mujiiroom. 48. The fmall yellow funnel- fafhioned Mujhroom. 49. The white Fungus, with inverted heads. 50. The fmall turbinated cluftcr Mujhroom. ji. The velvety Iamellated tree Mujhroom. 52. The fmall Ia- mellated Mufliroom, growing to alders in the fhape of a comb. 53. The hard white \xce-MuJhroo?n, with lamellae refembling the biood-ftone. 54. The fmall white Iamellated Mujhroom, With a long flender pedicle. 55. The white hairy tree- Mujhroom, Iamellated underneath. 56. The orbicular hazel Mufljroom. 57, The orbiculated Mujhroom, called the toad- ftool. 58. The white infipid Mujhroom, with conic heads. 59. The white orbiculated birch Mujhroom. 60. The red- difh black orbiculated Mujhroom. 61. The flie Mujhroom, fo called becaufe it is faid to kill flies. 62. The broad white orbicular Fungus, 63. The broad orbicular Fungus, with the edges turning inwards. 64. The bulbous-ftalked Fun- ■ gus. 65. The broad Fungus, with jagged edges. 66. The Fungus, with edges divided into five fegments. 67. The orbiculated autumnal oak Mujhroom. 68. The truffle-like Mujhroom. 69. The Mujhroom, refembling in colour and in fmell the root of fow-bread. 70. The thick conic-headed Fungus, yt. The red firr Mujhroom, with reflex edges. 72. The common greyifh white clufter Mujhroom. And, 73. The fcaly and globofe American fcarlet Mujhroom. Tounii Inft. p. 556. feq.
MuJJ)rcoms are plants more perfect than many people imagine; they have a regular root, a ftalk confiftmg of feveral arrange- ments of fibres, the interfaces of which are filled up with a parenchymatous fubftance, leading from the root to the head or umbel ; the under fide of this umbel is full of lamellae or chives, every one of which is a regular pod orfeed-veffcl. If thefe lamellae are examined in their feveral ftates, the feeds in them may be eafily difcovered, and are always found to be of a fize and degree of maturity proportioned to the ftate of the plant at that time; they have each of them alfo ;i liliquaceous aperture lengthwife, the feeds lying in rows ready to fall through it. The plant is eafily and regularly propagated through thefe, and not only may be ratfed from feed, but, like many other plants, may be propagated by roots. The fe- veral filaments at the root producing tubercles, in the manner of the potatoej from each of which there will arife new roots.* and anew plant. The periods of vegetation in this plant are alfo fufliciently regular ; and the common opinion of its fpring- ing up in a night, and perifhing in a day, has no foundation in reality. For, in the common way of railing them on hot beds, it is eafy to find, that they often ftand a fortnight or longer from their firft appearance, before they are fit for the table. Phil. Tranf. N°. 472. p. 160.
Notwithstanding that the feeds of fome fpecies of Alujhrooms have been difcovered, the accurate Buxbaum is of opinion* that very many plants of this genus propagate themfelves greatly by root, and are truely perennial ; and this he fupports by many folid arguments, drawn from obfervations of the fe- veral fpecies of Mujhroom, or Fungus, which are obvious and under the eye of every obferver, at many times of the year.
i. There are fome Fungujes which, while young, or when firft appearing out of the earth, ftand on a pedicle which is very lightly rooted, or does but penetrate a very little way into the earth ; but after the head has expanded itfelf, and is withered, this bottom of the pedicle pierces deeper into the ground, and there acquires a greater thicknefs and becomes a fort of bulb, remaining there in that ftate till the next year, when it brings forth a new plant.
2. There are certain fpecies of Fungujes, which grow on the old flumps of tree ; thefe fend their roots deep into the fub- ftance of the rotting wood, where they alfo remain many years, and annually produce new Fungujes at a proper feafon. Of this fort is the clufter Mujhroom of old trees, defcribed by Mr. Tournefort ; the roots of this, as of the former kind, do not begin to defcend or inlarge in length and thicknefs till the upper part of the plant withers ; but they then begin to grow and often force themfelves into the crevices to a great length, and become ftrangely divaricated ; To this is owing the erroneous account of fome authors of Mujhrooms or Fun- gujes, found Spreading and branching between the bark and the wood of old trees, fuch fuppoled Fungujes having been
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