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Mustela Fluviatilis, in ichthyology, a name by which feve- ral authors have called the common lampetra or lamprey. Bel- Ion, de Pifc. i. p. 91. Gefner, de Pifc. p. 696.
Mustela Lumpen, in ichthyology, a name given by Artedi, from Ray and others, to that fpecies of blcnnus called (imply lumpen at Antwerp ; and by Gethcr galea. It is diftingulfbed by Artedi from the other blcnni, by a fpecifie name expreffing that it has four bifid cirri or beards growing tinder the throat, and tranfverfe areolae or ftreaks on the back. See the article Blennus.
Mustela Marina, in ichthyology, a name given by Bellonius and others to that fifh which we call in Englifh the freat-fijh, the glanus and giants of Pliny and the old authors. It is diftinguifhed by Artedi by the name of thejilurus, with four beards near the mouth. By this character it is evidently diftinguiihed from the fifh called the lake, which, though a genuine fpecies of filurus, has only one beard.
MUSTELINUM Genus, in zoology, the name of a clafs of animals, fo called from their general likenefs to the wcafel in fhape ; they are all carnivorous animals, and are diftinguifhed from the other quadrupeds of that fort by their fmallnefs, the length of their bodies, and the fmallnefs and narrownefs of their heads. Their feet are fmall, and their legs fhort, whence they are calculated for running into holes and crannies ; their teeth are lefs numerous than in many quadrupeds ; in the dog kind there are forty, and in thefe but thirty-two. Their inteftines are fhort and fimple \ they have no colon nor cae- cum, nor any diftinction of great and fmall guts. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 195.
MUSTELUS, in ichthyology, a name given by Gaza and fome other writers, to the fifh called galeus ajitrias, zndjlel- latus by modern authors. This only accidentally differs from the common galeus laws, the fmooth or unprickly hound. Both are accounted the fame fpecies by Artedi, and are ex- preiled by the fame name, the fqualus with obtufe or granulous teeth. See the article Squalus.
Mustelus I<£i'if, a name by which Aldrovandus and fome others have called the fifth, diftinguifhed by others by the name of galeus leevis, the fmooth hound- fifh, Aldrov. de Pifc. p. 393. See the article Galeus.
MusteLus Lavis, in zoology, the name of a kind of fhark, called alfo the earns galeus, and eanofa. Willughbfs Hift. Pifc. p. 51. See thearticle Canis Galeus.
MUSTUS Fluviatilis, in ichthyology, a name given by Bello- nius to that fpecies of cyprinus which we know by the name of the barbel. See the article Cyprinus.
Mustus is alfo a word ufed by fome authors to exprefs the white calx of urine,
MUTABILIS Lapis, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome to the femi-pellucid gem, more commonly called oculus mundi. See the article Oculus Mundi.
MUTATIONES, among the Romans, poft ftages, or places where the public couriers were fupplied with frefh horfes.
The Mutathnes were wholly defigned for the ufe of thefe couriers, or meflengers of ftate ; in which refpect they differed from manfwus. See the article Mansiones.
MUTCHKIN, a liquid meafure ufed in Scotland \ it contains four gills, and is the fourth part of the Scotch pint. See the articles Pint, Measure, &c.
MUTEFERRIRA, a body of horfe kept up in Egypt, in the fervice of the Grand Seignior ; thefe, with the chaoufes, were originally the guards of the fultans of Egypt. This is a body of the greateft dignity, as is exprefled by the word, which fignifies a chofen people. Pococi's Egypt, p. 166.
MUTILUS, in natural hiftory, the name given by fome to the common mufcle. See the article Mytulus.
MUTU, in zoology, a name by which fome call a large Bra- zilian bird, of the gallinaceous kind, more ufually called miu. Marggrave's Hift. Braf. See the article Mitu.
MUZZLE {Cycl.)~- Muzzle of a Gun or Mortar, the extre- mity of the cylinder, where the powder and ball is put in. The metal which furrounds the extremity of the cylinder, is Iikewife called the Muzzle.
MYAGRUM, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower confifts of four leaves, and is of the cruciform kind ; and the piftil which arifes from the cup, becomes finally a fruit of a turbinated form, unicapfular, and containing one oblong feed, and hav- ing two empty cells at the apex.
The fpecies of Myagrum, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : 1. The broad-leaved finglefeeded Myagrmn. And 1. The letter fmgle-feeded Myagrum. Tourn. Inft. p. 211.
MYAGRUS: Deus [God], in the ancient mythology, a name given to Jupiter on certain occasions, as when they sacrificed to him at the Olympic games, to drive away the vast quantities of flies which usually infected those rites. The word, though it stands thus in Pliny, and many of the old authors, is yet faithfully printed, for this Myagrus signifies the mouse-destroyer, not the fly-destroyer, which is properly signified by Myiagrus. V. Apomycs, fupr. and Myiagrus, inf.
MYCETITES, in natural hiftory, the name of a fpecies of fea- coral, which is ufually of a conic fhape and ftriated texture ; 3
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always fmall, and ufually found adhering to fea-fhells, or large corals. See the article Fungitve.
Mycetitf.s Dijcoides, in natural hiftory, a name given by Dr. Woodward to thofe kinds of foffilc coralloidc bodies which the generality of writers had called, after Dr. Plot, porpita. Theie are ulually fmall, and of a roundifii, but flatted figure. They are hollowed on one fide with a fort of umbilicus, and ftriated on the other. They are found on the ploughed lands in Oxfordfhire, and fome other of our midland counties, and in other places buried in the folid ftrata of itone. They are fometimes yellowifh, fometimes brownifh, and are from the breadth of an inch to a fourth part or lefs of that lize. When broken, they are ufually found to confift of a kind of fpar, not unlike that of which the-lhelly coats of the echinitze, or the lapides indici, and other fpines of echini confift in their foflile itate. And in fome of them the ridges and ftria? arc thick fet with little knobs and tubercles. The bafis in fome of thefe is flat, as it is in others rifing in form of a circular elevation from the umbilicus, and others have a circular ca- vity in the fame place. See Tab. of Foffils, Gaff. 7. Wood- ward, Cat. Foil", vol. 1. p. 114..
MYCQNOIDE,- an epithet ufed by fome chirurgical writers for fome ulcers which are found continually filled with a thick mucous matter.
MYDESIS, a word ufed by the antient phyficians to exprefs a general corruption of any part, from a great redundance of moifture. Galen has appropriated it to the eye-lids.
MYDRIASIS, a name ufed by authors to exprefs a difeafe of the eye, confifting in a dilatation of the pupil, and a confe- quent dimnefs of light.
MYDROS, a word ufed by Hippocrates to exprefs a ball of iron or ftone, which was ufed to be heated in the fire, and thrown into urine, intended as a fomentation.
MYGBAOTH, in the jewifh antiquities, a kind of mitre worn by the priefts. See the article Cidaris.
MYGDONIUM Marmor, a name given by the antients to a. fpecies of marble much ufed in their larger buildings. It was white, variegated with black ; but that black rather difpofed in clouds and fpots than veins. It is confounded with the ds- cimenum marmor by fome writers ; but that was always of a pure white, without the leaft variegation.
MYIAGRUS Deus, in the heathen mythology, a name given sometimes to Jupiter, and sometimes to Hercules, on occasion of their being sacrificed to for the driving away the vast numbers of flies which infested the sacrifices on certain public occasions. The word is generally spelt Myagrus; but this must be an error, as this word does not express the fly-destroyer, but the mouse-deftroyer ; and we have it sufficiently testified by the ancients, that flies were the only creatures against whom this deity was invoked. Pliny calls this deity also Myiodes, and tells us, that the flies which used to pester the Olympic rites went away in whole clouds, on the sacrificing a bull to this god. We find in Athenseus also, that this sacrificing to the god of flies, at the Olympic games, was a constant custom. Some distinguish these two deities, and tell us, that the latter, or Myiodes, used to visit the nations in vengeance with a vast multitude of flies ; and that, on paying him the due honours of a sacrifice, they all went away again ; and this seems to agree with what Pliny tells us in some places. See the article Myiodes.
At the time of the Olympic games, Jupiter was worfhippeel under the name of the Apcmyos, or Myiagrus Deus, to fup- plicate the deftruction of thofe troublefome creatures. This happened only once in many years, when the facrifices were performed there ; but the Elians worfhipped him continually under this name, to deprecate the vengeance of heaven, which ufually fent, as they exprefled it, an army of flies, and other infects, toward the latter end of the fummer, that in- fefted the whole country with ficknefs and peftilence. .
MYIODES Deus, in the heathen mythology, a name given fometimes to Hercules, but more frequently to Jupiter, to whom a bull was facrificed, in order to make him propitious in driving away the flies that infefted the Olympic games. See the article Myiagrus Deus, fupra.
MYLASSENSE Marmar, in the works of the antients, a name ufed for a fpecies of marble, dug near a city of that name in Caria. It was of a black colour, but with an admixture of purple ; the purple not difpofed in veins, but diftufed through. the whole mafs. It was much ufed in building among the Romans.
MYLE, a word ufed by fome authors as a name for the patella or limpit, and by others to exprcis what wc call a mole, or falfe conception in the uterus.
MYLO-HYOID^US, a broad thin penniform mufcle, fituated tranfverfely between the internal lateral pL.rts of the bans of the lower jaw, and lying on the anterior portions of the two di- gaftric mufcles. It is made up of two equal flsfhy portions, one lying on the right fide, the other on the left, both on the fame plane, and joined to a fmall middle tendon, which is inferted anteriorly in the middle of the bafis of the os hyoides, and from thence runs directly forward, diminishing gradually in Its courfe. This is therefore a true digaltric muf- cle, and cannot be divided into two. Each portion is fixed
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