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THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



monkeys with check-pouches; they have affin- 

 ities with the baboons, and are generally dis- 

 tributed over Africa, Asia, and the Malay 

 Islands, one species, the Gibraltar monkey, being 

 the only monkey inhabiting Europe. The fam- 

 ily Cebidce comprise all the larger America n 

 monkeys, which differ from those of the old 

 world in having an additional molar tooth, or 

 grinder, in each jaw. and the nostrils widely 

 .-eparated; while they have neither cheek- 

 pouches nor qallosities, and their thumbs are 

 never completely opposable; some have a pre- 

 hensile tail, which is as useful to them as an 

 additional limb in their arboreal haunts. The 

 members of this family are strictly confined to 

 the forest regions of tropical America, from 

 Southern Mexico to Northern Chile. The last 

 family, the Hapalidce, comprises the marmosets, 

 which are strictly South American in their dis- 

 tribution. The habitats of all monkeys are 

 chiefly confined to forests, for which their form 

 is especially adapted, enabling them to climb 

 trees with ease, and to leap from branch to 

 branch with extraordinary agility. Here they 

 are masters of the situation, the only foe they 

 dread being the serpent, which alone can reach 

 them in their arboreal retreats. Their food con- 

 sists chiefly of fruits and other vegetable sub- 

 stances; but, in addition to these, birds and 

 their eggs, and insects, are by no means unac- 

 ceptable to them. 



Mosses. A large group of flpwerless plants 

 of diminutive size, which constitute the class 

 Musci. Mosses are among the most extensively 

 diffused of all plants, and are both terrestrial 

 and aquatic in habits. They consist of a leafy 

 stem, the leaves being often closely packed or 

 overlapping one another. The fructification of 

 mosses is somewhat complicated, and may be 

 compared to that of ferns in all essential points. 

 A capsule is first produced, and borne at the top 

 of a long foot-stalk which springs from a tuft of 

 leaves. It is covered at first by a hood, termed 

 the calyptra, but this afterwards falls off, and 

 the capsule is then seen to be closed by an 

 operculum or lid, which eventually bursts away 

 to allow of the escape of the contained spores. 

 The mouth of the capsule, when the operculum 

 has fallen off, is seen to be surrounded by a row 

 of minute teeth which constitute the peristome. 

 The development of the spore gives rise to a 

 branching filament, on several points of which 

 buds appear, which become leafy stems; and 

 some of these produce true reproductive organs, 

 the male organs being termed antheridia, and 

 the female organs archegonia; these may be 

 borne by the same plant, or by different plants. 

 Several thousand species of mosses are known, 

 and many of them are extremely beautiful, 

 especially under the microscope. 



Moth. The popular name of a numerous 

 and beautiful division of lepidopteTous insects, 

 readily distinguished from butterflies by their 

 antennae tapering to a point instead of terminat- 

 ing in a knob, by their wings being horizontal 

 when resting, and by their being seldom seen on 

 the wing except in the evening or at night 

 (though some moths fly by day); hence the 

 terms crepuscular and nocturnal lepidoptera 

 applied to them. Amongst the more notable of 



the moths are the "feather" or "plume-moths," 

 the "death's-head moth," the " clothes-moths," 

 and the "silk-moth." 



Mother-of-pearl, or Nacre. The hard 

 silvery, brilliant, internal or nacreous layer of 

 several kinds of shells, particularly of the oyster 

 family, often variegated with chanpnu; purple 

 And azure colors. It is destitute of coloring 

 matter, but is composed of a series of minute 

 and slightly imbricated layers or ridges which 

 have the power of decomposing the rays of 

 light, thus producing beautiful iridescent 'hues. 

 The large oysters of the tropical seas alone 

 secrete this coat of sufficient thickness to render 

 their shells available for the purposes of manu- 

 facture. Mother-of-pearl is extensively used in 

 the arts, particularly in inlaid work, and in the 

 manufacture of handles for knives, buttons. 

 toys, snuff-boxes, etc. 



Mouse. The name given to certain specie- 

 of small mammals, belonging to the order I\<>- 

 dentia, or gnawing animals. The mice, aloni; 

 with the rats, form the very extensive grim's 

 Mus, and, with other allies, the family Mnrnl<i. 

 The British species of mice are the Common 

 House Mouse, which is too familiar to need any 

 description; the Harvest Mouse, the smallest 

 and at the same time one of the prettiest of 

 British mammals, which in the summer con- 

 structs a curious nest high up in the straws of 

 the standing corn, retiring in the winter into 

 burrows, in which it hibernates; and the Lomj- 

 tailed Field Mouse, which frequents fields and 

 gardens. The Dormouse belongs to another fam- 

 ily, Myoxidce, of the same order. 



Mulberry. A fruit-tree of the genus Morus 

 akin to nettles. The black or common mul- 

 berry (Morus nigra) is the only species worthy 

 of being cultivated as a fruit-tree. The fruit is 

 used at dessert, and also preserved in the form 

 of a syrup. The juice of the berries mixed with 

 that of apples forms a beverage of a deep port- 

 wine color. 



Mule. A hybrid animal between the horse 

 and the ass, differing in size, strength, and 

 beauty, according to the predominance of its 

 parental species; those between a male ass and 

 a mare being far superior to the progeny of a 

 she-ass with a horse. In mountainous coun- 

 tries mules are highly serviceable; no beast of 

 burden being either so sure-footed, or so capable 

 of enduring fatigue; but in beauty of form they 

 fall very short of that noble quadruped, the 

 horse; the mule having a large, clumsy head, 

 long erect ears, a short mane, and a thin tail. 



Mungoose. A species of ichneumon, 

 otherwise known as the "gray" or "Indian" 

 ichneumon. Being easily domesticated, it is 

 kept in many houses in Hindustan to rid them 

 of reptiles and other vermin, as rats, mice, etc. 

 It has been said that it neutralizes the poison of 

 snakes, which it fearlessly attacks, by ealinir, 

 during its contests with them, the snake-root; 

 but its immunity is really clue to the extreme 

 celerity of its movements. It is of a gray color 

 flecked with black, and about the size of a rat. 



Musk-deer. A genus of deer, forming t he 

 type of the family Moschida?, which is essentially 

 distinct from the family of the Cervida?, or true 

 deers. Their chief habitat is Asia and the is- 



