120 



M Y LITTA M Y HIOR AM A . 



very high. It produces little wheat, but plenty of 

 barley, raisins, and figs, with some olives. Partridges, 

 quails, turtle-doves, beccaficos, and rabbits, are in the 

 greatest plenty. 



MYLITTA ; the Venus of the Assyrians (with 

 the Arabians, Alitta, nnd with the Persians, Mythra). 

 She was, as goddess of the moon, the female principle 

 of generation. Among the licentious Babylonians, it 

 was the custom for every woman to prostitute herself 

 once to a stranger for a certain sum of money, in the 

 temple of Venus Mylitta. The money was deposited 

 by the woman in the treasury of the temple. Hero- 

 dotus relates, that the women, with wreaths on their 

 heads, seated themselves in the porticoes of the 

 temple, through which the strangers passed to make 

 their selection. They dared not return home till 

 some stranger had thrown into their lap the money, 

 with these words, " I invoke for you the goddess 

 Mylitta." 



MYLNE, ROBERT ; an architect of eminence, 

 memorable as the builder of Blackfriars bridge across 

 the Thames, which was commenced in 1760j and 

 completed in 1770. It was the first work of the kind 

 executed in Britain, in which arches approaching to 

 the form of an ellipsis were substituted for semi- 

 circles, by means of which the roadway is brought 

 much nearer to a level surface than in bridges con- 

 structed on the old plan. Mr Mylne was born in 

 Edinburgh, in 1734, and, after receiving his educa- 

 tion in his native city, travelled to Rome, where he 

 resided five years; and where, in 1758, he gained the 

 first prize of the academy of St Luke, in the first 

 class of architecture. On returning to Britain, his 

 plan for the contemplated Blackfriars bridge was 

 preferred to all others, and he was employed to 

 superintend that great public work. He also ob- 

 tained the appointment of surveyor of St Paul's 

 cathedral ; and he it was who suggested the felicitous 

 inscription on that building to the memory of Wren : 

 " Si monumentum quaeras, circumspice" (If you in- 

 quire for his monument, look around). Among other 

 buildings erected or altered by him, may be men- 

 tioned, Rochester cathedral, Greenwich hospital, 

 King's Weston, Ardincaple house, and Inverary 

 castle. He died in 1811. 



MYOLOGY ; the branch of anatomy relating to 

 the muscles. See Anatomy. 



MYOPIA. See Short-sightedness. 

 MYRIAD; ten thousand: in poetical language, 

 it generally implies an innumerable multitude. 



MYRIAPODA. This class of animals was first 

 formed by doctor Leach, after having been placed in 

 different orders by various naturalists before his time. 

 Linnaeus arranged them under the apterous insects, 

 under the general names of lulus and Scolopendra. 

 Fabricius placed them in his class Mitosata; Latreille, 

 Cuvier, and Dumeril, among the insects; and La- 

 marck, as a division of his class Arachnides. 



In their general structure, organization, and in the 

 situation and functions of their respiratory apparatus, 

 the My riapoda resemble insects. These consist of two 

 air tubes, extending longitudinally and parallel to each 

 other, the whole length of the body, which receive 

 and transmit the air through the medium of numerous 

 lateral spiracles. The animals of this class have a 

 strong resemblance to serpents, their feet being close- 

 ly approximated throughout the whole extent of their 

 body. The mandibles are bi-articulated, and imme- 

 diately followed by a quadrifid piece in the form of 

 a lip with articulated divisions resembling little feet, 

 which, from its position, corresponds to the ligula oi 

 the Crustacea ; there are then two pairs of small feet 

 resembling large hooks ; they have two short anten- 

 nae, composed of seven joints in some, and, in others, 

 they are numerous and setaceous ; their eyes are 



composed of a union of ocelli, although some have a 

 di-tinct corneii ; the stigmtUa are very small, consist- 

 ing of eighteen or twenty anniili ; they have two den 

 tated mandibles, fitted for bruising or cutting theit 

 food, and divided transversely by a suture, and a lip 

 without palpi, formed of united portions. 



The myriapoda live and increase in size longer than 

 insects, as two years are required to render them adult. 

 They are found under stones, the bark of trees, c^c., 

 and frequently burrow in the earth : their food con- 

 sists of vegetable substances. They are generally 

 known by the name of Millipedes. 



ORDER I. CHILOGNATHA. 



The antennae are filiform, nnd composed of seven joints ; the 

 mouth is provided with two mandible*, and the lip is divided 

 by sutures ; two or four anterior feet, united at their base, like 

 pedipalpi ; and the spiracles are indistinct. 



The body of the animals composing this order is frequently 

 cylindrical, and its covering generally crustac-eous ; the feet are 

 very thort, they walk slowly, and are capable of rolling them- 

 selves up into a ball. The hrst segment of the body is longest, 

 and every segment has usually two pairs of feet: the antenna; 

 are thickest towards the point, or are filiform, very short and 

 seven-jointed ; the spiracles are either concealed or indistinct. 



FAMILY I. ANGUIFORMIA. 



Body usually linear, covered with a solid skin, and without 

 any anal appendages ; antennae thickest towards the end ; never 

 fewer than thirty-two feet. 



Julus subulosus. PI. 31. fig. 17. Body snake-shaped aud cy- 

 lindrical; antennae, with the second joint longer than the thirds 

 legs numerous ; there is no ridge or sharp edge on the sides of 

 the rings. 



FAMILY II. PENICILLATA. 



The body \ oblong and membranaeeous, very soft, with ridged 

 scaly sides, and a pencil of ciliated scales at the posterior extre- 

 mity ; antennae filif'irm, with twenty-four feet. 



Polyxenus lagurus. PI. 31. fig. 18. The antennae are short, 

 filiform, moniliiorm, and inserted under the anterior margin of 

 the head ; destitute of palpi ; body soft, depressed, and with 

 fasciculi f scales on the sides, and a pencil of ciliated scales at 

 the posterior extremity ; having twenty-four feet. 



ORDER II. CHILOPODA. 



The mouth is composed of two mandibles, with a small pal- 

 piform appendage, which appears as if it had been soldered in 

 the middle, and terminating in a spoonlike process, with den- 

 tated edges; the lip is quadrifid, the two lateral divisions being 

 the longest, and annulated transversely ; body depressed, with 

 a coriaceous, membranous, or flexible covering, and each seg- 

 ment provided with a pair of feet ; antennae setaceous, compos- 

 ed of numerous joints; spiracles distinct. 



FAMILY I. IN^EQUIPEDES. 



Body elongated, but not worm-shaped or linear, divided be- 

 low into fifteen segments, each provided with a pair of feet, 

 and covered above with eight plates or half segments in the 

 form of scutelli and concealing the spiracles ; feet elongated, 

 especially the last pair, with a very long and jointed tarsus ; 

 eves large and compound. 



Scutigera araneoides. PI. 31. fig. 19. The nntennas are 

 many-jointed and setaceous, and greatly longer than the head ; 

 mandibles two, with slender palpi adhering to the back of the 

 internal lip ; the posterior lip provided with two strong-pierced 

 hooks ; body elongated, linear ; having thirty feet. 



FAMILY II. ./EGUIPEDES. 



Body vermiform and linear, with the segments equal both 

 above and below ; feet equal, with the exception of the two 

 last, which are long, aud form a kind of tail ; eyes granulated ; 



Litkoliiufrrjicatvt. PI. 31. fig. 20 The stigmata are late- 

 ral the body divided into a similar number of segments, both 

 above and beneath, each bearing a pair of feet; the superior- 

 plates alternately longer and shorter, and overlapping each 

 other close to the extremity ; fifteen pairs of feet. 



Scolopendra morsitans. PI. 31. fig. 21. The antenna; comco- 

 aetaceous, consisting of seventeen subconic joints; moutl 

 covered by hemispheric galeae ; exterior palpi, with a double 

 peduncle ; mandibles strong and horny; the upper lip cleft; 

 segments of the body margined; anterior pair of feet small, 

 the last pair being largest ; eight eyes, four on each side of the 

 head, arranged in a rhomboidal form. 



MYRIORAMA (Greek, wins, ten thousand, 

 ie*u, view)-, a sort of landscape kaleidoscope recent- 

 ly invented by Bre's, of Paris, and improved by Clark, 

 of London. It is a movable picture, capable of 

 forming an almost endless variety of picturesque 

 scenes, by means of several fragments or sections of 

 landscapes on cards, which may be placed togethei 



