Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/110

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M Y X

ifance, and divides it as it were into two longitudinal fec- tions ; this is properly a canal, and along this is thrown the liquor which ferves to form the threads ; and it is in this ca- nal or flit that thefe threads are moulded into their form. Externally, this appears only a fmall crack or flit, becaufe the two flefhy fecf ions of the parts almoft meet and cover it, but it is rounded and deep within, and is furrounded with cir- cular fibre:;. This canal is carried regularly on from the tip of the tongue, as it is called, to its bafe, where it becomes cy- lindric ; the cylinder in this part being no other than a clofe tube or pipe, in which this open canal terminates. The cy- lindric tube contains a round oblong body, of the nature of the threads, except that it is much larger - t and from the ex- tremity of this all the threads are produced, this ferving as a great cable to which all the other little cordages difperfed to- wards different parts, are fixed. The tube or pipe in which this large thread is lodged, feems the refervoir of the liquor of which the other threads are formed ; all its internal fur- face being furnifhed with glands for its iecrction. Mem. Acad. Par. 1711.

The Mufcle, like many other fea-fifhes, abounds in this li- quor ; and if at any time one touch with a finger the bafe of this fpinning organ, one draws away with it a vifcous liquor in form of feveral threads, like thole of the caterpillar, fpider, and the other fpinning land-animals. The threads fix them- felves with equal cafe to the moft fmooth and gloffy, as to rougher bodies ; if the Mufcles are kept in glafs-jars of fea- water, they as firmly faften themfelves to the glafs as to any other body.

Mufcles, be they ever fo young, have this property of fpinning j and by this means they faften themfelves in vaft numbers to any thing which they find in the fea. Mr. Reau- mur has feen them when as fmall as millet-feeds, fpin plenti- fully, though their threads proportioned to their own weight, are much finer and fmaller than thofe of larger Mufcles.. It is a queftion yet undetermined whether the Mufcle has a power of breaking, or otherwife getting rid of its threads, in order to its removing from the place where it is once fixed ; but it appears probable that they have not, and that they muft remain where they have once fastened themfelves, though their deftru&ion be the confequence of it. Mr. Reaumur tried this experiment in his jars, when they had well fixed themfelves to the fides of them, he poured off part of the falt-water, fo that it became the intereft of the fifh to leave their hold and go lower down, but they feemed to have no power to effccT: this, Mem. Acad, Par. 1711.

The common Mufcle affords the curious obferver a very pleflf- ingohjeel: of examination by the microfcopc. The transparent membrane, which immediately appears on opening the fhell, mews the circulation of the blood for a long time together through an amazing number of vefiels. And Mr. Lewen- hoek, in feveral which he difie&ed, difcovered numbers of eggs or embryo Mufcles in the ovarium, appearing as plainly as if he had feen them by the naked eye, and all lying with their fharp ends fattened to the firing of veflels by which they received nourifhment. The minute eggs, or embryos, are by the parent placed in due order, and in a very clofe ar- rangement on the outfide of the {hell, where by means of a gluey matter they adhere very faff,, and continually increafe in fize and ftrength, till becoming perfect Mufcles they fall off and fhift for themfelves, leaving the holes where they were placed behind them. Baker's Microfcope, p. 242. This abundance of Mufcle (hells very plainly fhew when exa- mined by the microfcope, and fometimes they are in the num- ber of two or three thoufand on one {hell ; but it is not cer- tain that thefe have been all fixed there by the Mufcle within 5 for thefe fifh ufually lying in great numbers near one another the embryos of one are often affixed to tlie fhell of another. The fringed edge of the Mufcle, which Mr. Lewenhock calls the beard, has in every the minuteft part of it fuch variety of motions as is unconcievable ; for being compofed of longifh, fibres, each fibre has on both fides a valt many moving par- ticles. LewenboeFs Arean. Nat.

MYUTES Lapis, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome authors to a foflile body, part of an afteropodium which they have thought in fingle joints fome what refcmbled the ears of a moufe. See the article Asteropodium.

MYXA, or Myxaria, in the materia medica, a name ufed by fome authors for the febeftens, a fort of plum of ./Egypt and Afia. J. Bauhin, V. 1. p. 198. See the article Se- eesten, Cycl

MYXOLYDIAN, in antient mufic, the firfr fpecies of the diapafon. Seethe article Diapason.

MYXON, in zoology, the name of a fifh of the mullet kind, called by others, Bacchus.

It much refembles the common mullet ; but its head is lefs pointed, and its body is covered befide the (bales with a mu- cous matter. It has a remarkable irregularity in the manner of its fwimming- and looks red about the lips and covering; of the gills. Rwdikt. de Pifc. p. 683. See the article Mu- ch.