Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/96

 M U S

M U S

Murra was likewife a dry perfume, made of the Murra re- duced to powder. Pitifc. in voc.

MURRE, in zoology, a name given in fome parts of England to the razor-bill. See the article Alka.

MURRHINA, in antiquity, a kind of fweet medicated wine. See the article Murina.

MURRINE, in the writings of the antients, a name frequently given to cups ufed for drinking, and to vefiels of a fmall fize, ufed for the preferving perfumes, &c. and called Murrina from murrha or myrrba, the name of the fubftance from which they were made.

There have been many errors among the critics and com- mentators about this Murrha ; but the greateft of all is that of Baronius, who fuppofes it to have been myrrh, the gum we now know under that name. The dcfcriptions and ufe we hear thefe veiTels were put to, plainly proves the abfur dity of this opinion. Some have fuppofed thefe vefiels to be made of cryftal, but this is contrary to the account of all the antients, . The Greeks had the words «pr«^ss for cryftal, and E#i for myrrh, very common among them, and therefore if thefe veiTels had been made of either of thefe fubftanccs, they would in fome places have called them Smyrnina or cryflallhia. Qn the contrary, the moft correct among them call them mur- rhlna or morrina. The cups made of cryftal, which werealfo in ufe at thofe times, were called cryflallhia, and thefe mar-' rbina or murrbaa, by way of keeping up the diftinction : And Martial tells us ? that the ftone they were made of was fpotted or variegated, calling them pocula maculofts murra. And Statius mentions the cryftalline and mnrrhine cups in the fame fentence, but as different things, not the fame. Arrian men- tions alfo the ?uGos /A°f|i«, which his interpreters cenfure as an error of the copies, and would alter into myrrba, the name of the gum myrrh. See the article Morrhin a.

MURROBATHRARH, among the Romans, a kind of per. fumers. See the article Murra. '

MURUCUIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is rofaceous, or compofed of feveral petals arranged in a circular form. The cup alfo is compofed of many leaves or fegmenls. The raid- die of the flower is occupied by a tube in the fhape of a trun- cated cone ; from this there arifes a piftil, which has a tender embryo fruit, furrounded by three club-fafhioned bodies, with numerous {lamina underneath. The embryo finally becomes a fruit of an oval fhape and flefhy fubftance, unicapfulur, and containing many feeds covered with a fort of hoods. See Tab. i. of botany, Clafs 6. Teurn. Infh p. 241. The only known fpecies of this plant is the A'furucuia, with lunated leaves, called by others, the fcarlet-flowered Indian climber, with lunated leaves.

MURZAROLT, in falconry. Seethe article Falcon.

MUS, the Moufe, in the Linnsean fyftcm of zoology, makes a diftinit genus of animals, of the order of the glires, and taking in the whole family of the memfe and rat kind. The generi- cal characters are, the having four toes on the fore-feet, and five on the hinder, and their palms made and fafhiofled for running. Linn at Syft. Nat. p. 39.

Of this genus there are feveral diitincl: kinds : 1. The com- mon Rat. This is a too well known animal ; its colour is a dufky browni/h grey ; its tail is compofed of a multitude of rings, not left than a hundred and fixty.

2. The water Rat. This is much larger than the common Rat, and is of a fomewhat reddifh brown colour ; its feet are webbed, or the toes connected by membranes like thofe of a duck ; it tail alfo is much fhortcr, and all the way of the fame thicknefs, not tapering off, but feeming as if cut off in the middle ; its teeth alio are much longer, and of a pale yel- lowifh colour.

3. The mujk Rat. This is about the fize of our common Rati its hair is long, and very thick fet ; its back black, and its fides and belly grey. The head is fmall, and the nofc long and warp, as if intended, like that of the hog, for dig- ging up the earth. Its mouth does not open very wide; its eyes are extremely fmall, and its jaws adorned with a number of long grey hairs all along the opening of the mouth. Its tail is as long as its body, and is flatted and hefetrwith a few fcat- rered hairs. Its feet are divided into five toes, the larger ones connected by a membrane to aflift the creature in fwimming, and the hinder legs are fomewhat longer than the fore ones. This creature is common in Ruflja, and has a very flronglv perfumed fmell like that of mufk, Ray's Syn. Quad.' p. 217.'

4. The common Moufe. This is too well known to need any defcription ; but it is diftinguifhed from the reft of the ge- nus by its fmallnefs, and its prominent large eyes. Its colour is a duiky grey on the back, and' a whiter grey on the belly.

5. The larger Moufe. This is of twice the fize of the com- mon Moufe, and is ufually found in caverns of the earth in the fields, though fbmetimes alfo in houfes ; its back is of a mixed colour of black and tawny ; its belly very white ; and there is an even line drawn along each fide, which Separates the two colours ; the head is longer than that of the common Moufe, and the eyes larger and more prominent ; the ears are rounder and wider ; and the tail very long, and covered with fhort hairs, black on the upper part, and white underneath. Tb

legs alfo are longer than in the common Moufe ; and there are fix tubercles in the bottom of the foot. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 218.

6. The great- beaded field Moufe. This is larger than the. common Moufe, and its head is remarkably large in propor- tion to its fize. Its nofe is fhort and blunt. Its eyes fmall, and not prominent ; and its ears, fhort, broad, and roundifh, and almoft entirely hid in the furr, which is much deeper than that of the common Moufe, This has alfo a much longer body, and its tail is remarkably fhort, and is thinly co- vered with hairs ; its legs alfo are very fhort. Its back is of a very deep and dufky brown, with a mixture of yellow; and its belly is of a fort of lead colour, the points of all the hairs be- ing white, and their bottoms black. It is common in dry paftures, and is abundantly diftinguifhed from all the other kinds by the the thicknefs of its neck and Ihoulders, and the fhortnefs of its tail.

7. The great long-tailed field Moufe. This is very nearly of the fi2c of a rat ; its tail is very long, and its ears fhort and round ; its head is thick, and the nofe not (harp, as in moft of thefe creatues, but fhort and rounded, and is of a deep brown, with fome mixture of red at the fides ; and it has a fort of beard of long hairs between the mouth and the eyes.

8. The Dor moufe, or fieeper, called Mm avellanorum by many authors, and forex by Pliny. Of this there are two di- ftinct kinds, a greater and a fmaller. See the article Sorex. The other kinds are, 9. Citillus. 10. The Cricetus, n. The Marmotta. 12. The Caviti Cobaya. 13. The Aguti. 14. Paca. 15. The Leming. And 16. The Glis. AH which fee under their feveral heads. Befide thefe there is alfo another variegated kind, known by the name of the

Jlriated indian-tree Moufe, which is very rare, but is f'ome- times found in the cabinets of the curious. Ray's Syn. Quad- p. 218.

Mus Alphim, in zoology, a name given by many authors to the mountain rat, more commonly known by the name of the marmott. See the article MaRMotta.

Mus Araneus, in zoology, the name of a creature called in Englifh, the Jhrew, theJbrew-Moufe, or the hardy-Jbrew. It is of mixt brown, and reddifh tawny colour ; the belly h white. Its tail is about two fingers breadth long, and co- vered with fhort hairs. The whole body of the creature has a rank, offenfive, and poifonous fmell. It body is about three fingers breadth, and its eyes black and very fmall ; they are indeed little larger than thofe of the mole, and do not ex- ceed the fize of the head of the fmalleft pin ; it is no wonder therefore that the creature is almoft blind. The teeth are very fmall, and differ in their fhape and fituation from thofe of all other creatures in the world ; and feem as if nature had in one creature made a fort of mixture of the teeth of the Moufe and the fnake kind.

It has two long fore teeth, as all the Afoufie kind have ; but thefe are not fingle, as in Mice, but have two or three other fmall and (harp teeth growing out of them : Thefe, to an in- accurate obferver, might either be wholly unfeen, or taken for diftinft teeth ; and the anterior long teeth are not feparated from the reft by any gap or fpace, as in the Moufe kind, but make one continued feries with the others. The upper jaw in this creature is longer than the under, and the teeth are fharp and fcrrated, fome with two, fome with three points; and thefe fo fmall, that they might eafily not be feen, but that the tips of them are reddifh Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 240. It is very common in many parts of the world, and is met with in almoft all our dry grounds; the cats will kill it, but never attempt to eat it.

It is diftinguifhed at firft fight from the common Moufe, in that it is fmaller ; its nofe longer, and like a hog's ; it has five toes on the hinder as well as on the fore feet ; its eyes are extremely fmall ; its ears very fhort ; its claws are long and whitifh, and its feet fhort.

Mus Norwegian, in zoology, the name given by authors to the Norway rat, commonly called the leming. See the article Leming.

Mus Pharaonis, Pharaob's Rat, a name given by the people of /Egypt to the ichneumon, a creature of the weafel kind, which they are very fond of for its deftroying ferpents, and keep tame about their houfes as we do cats. See the article Ichneumon.

Mus Terra, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the roots of the bulbocajlannm or earth-nut ; it was probably at firft muris terns radix, the earth moufes root, and i'o called from the earth-Mice or field-Mice being very fond of them ; but the word radix being left out, it ftands only Mus Terra.

MUSA, in botany, a large herbaceous plant, approaching to the growth of trees. Almoft all the writers of botany have look- ed upon the Mufa as a tree, on account of its hignefs ; it is tender, fucculent, and not at all woody ; the ftalk, though very thick, is fo weak as to be unable to fupport itfelf,' were it not for a great number of dry cafes or hufks, which are mem- branous and thick, and defend it from bowing and from the weather. The Mufa alfo is an annual plant, which bears fruit only once, and then by degrees perifhes ; whereas all trees are woody, perennial, and bear fruit a great many times. It has been by fome writers enumerated among the palmace- ous