284 



MONOCULUS MONSTER. 



other species, but appears affixed only at the edge of 

 the lip. De Blainville has made this genus a sub- 

 division of the genus Purpura. 



MONOCULUS (Linnaeus) One-eyed. Under this 

 generic name Linnaeus comprised a variety of crusta- 

 ceous Entomostraca, vary ing very greatly in their struc- 

 ture, composing, in fact, in the modern systems, the order 

 Branchiopoda (which see), to which all the Linno2an 

 Monoculi belong, with the exception of his largest 

 species, Monoculus Polyphemus, or the Limulus Poly- 

 phemus, Latreille, serving as the type of the sub-order 

 Xyphosura, belonging to the PfEcilopoda, which was 

 the first species in the genus Monoculus, according 

 to Linnaeus. Under these circumstances the Lin- 

 naean name Monoculus has entirely sunk, being 

 neither employed generically nor specifically. The 

 name is, however, so appropriate for some of the 

 species which possess but a single eye, and more 

 especially for the Linnaean Monoculus pediculus 

 (Polyphemus oculus, Miiller, the head of which is dis- 

 tinct, and entirely occupied by a large eye), that we 

 would suggest the propriety of retaining it for the 

 last-named insect, rather than suffer a good old 

 Linna?an name to fall into disuse. 



MONODONTA (Lamarck; TURBO, TKOCHUS, 

 Linnseus). In constituting this genus of molluscs, 

 Lamarck appears to consider it an intermediate link 

 between the Trochus and the Turbo, with both of 

 which some of its species had been confounded by 

 Linnaeus ; he was in this principally guided by the 

 aperture being rounder and scarcely at all depressed 

 as in the Trochus, and from the Turbo by a thickened 

 callosity running round the columella, forming a pro- 

 jecting angle at the base of the aperture ; we cannot, 

 however, consent to call this a tooth-like appendage, 

 as it is, when best defined, nothing more than a notch 

 occasioned by a continuous sulcated groove running 

 uniformly from the spire to the base. There are, 

 however, other remarkable distinctions which may 

 authorise its being distinguished and classed as a 

 division of the genus Turbo, to which we are disposed 

 to assign it ; these are the rounded entire aperture, 

 the margin disunited at the upper part, and close by 

 an operculum ; in some the margin appears double, or 

 rather it is grooved in its thickness. The animal is 

 also organised precisely similar to that of the Turbo ; 

 it is phytophagous ; some breathe air, but the greater 

 number of aquatic species are marine molluscs. The 

 name of this genus appears to us unhappy, as the 

 characters are not sufficiently strong to warrant its 

 application, and it would have applied more appro- 

 priately to the Monoceros, which more resembles a 

 tooth than a horn. 



MONODORA (Dunal). An ornamental shrub 

 called in Jamaica the American nutmeg. The flowers 

 are polyandrious, and the plant belongs to the natural 

 order Anonacece. Gartner called this plant Anona 

 myristica. Generic character : calyx in three parts ; 

 petals six, in two series, outer ones acutely lanceolate, 

 interior ones ovate, short and thick ; stamens bearing 

 subsessile anthers crowded ; style none; stigma sitting ; 

 berry large, globular, one-celled, and many seeded. 

 The plant thrives in our stoves, when planted in loam 

 and moor-earth, and is increased by cuttings. 



MONOPHORA(Quoy and Gaimard). A species 

 of mollusc arranged by De Blainville as a division of 

 the genus Salpa; it possesses no testaceous covering, 

 and its singular structure will be more fully explained 

 under Salpa. 



MONOPLEUROBRANCHIATA is De Blain- 

 ville's third order of the second class Paraccphalo- 

 phora : it includes the families Siibaplysiacea, which 

 contains the genera Bcrthella, Plcurobranchus, and 

 Plezirobranchidium, Aplysiacca, Dolabella, Bursatclla, 

 Notarchus, Elysia, Patclloidea, Oombrclla, Siphonaria, 

 Tylodina, A/ccra, Sulla, Bellcrophus, Bulled, Lolmria, 

 Sormotus, Gasteroptera, Atlas, each of which will be 

 explained under their respective heads. 



MONOTOCA (Dr. R. Brown). A genus of 

 evergreen shrubs, introduced from Australia, and be- 

 longing to Epacridete. Generic character : calyx 

 five-cleft ; corolla funnel-shaped, with a five-cleft limb, 

 throat beardless ; disk surrounding the germen, cup- 

 shaped and lobed ; stamens with filaments inserted 

 into the tube of corolla, anthers incumbent, two- 

 valved, and somewhat protruding; style simple, stigma 

 headed ; drupe, a one-seeded berry. These are green- 

 house plants, and succeed and are increased by the 

 ordinary management. 



MONOTREMATA. A small group of mar- 

 supial mammalia of New Holland, agreeing with the 

 ground edentata among placental mammalia in some 

 particulars, but being so peculiar in others, that they 

 stand alone in the system as distinct from the other 

 marsupial animals as they are from the placental. 

 The character upon which the name of the group is 

 founded is that of having only a single posterior 

 opening to the body, as in birds. On this account 

 many naturalists were long of opinion that these ani- 

 mals are oviparous ; but observation has shown that 

 they are mammalia There are only two known 

 genera, the ECHIDNA and ORNITHORHYNCHUS, each 

 forming a separate genus. See these articles, and 

 also the general article MAMMALIA, in this work. 



MONSONI A (Linnaeus, Jun.). A genus of green- 

 house perennials, natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 The flowers are monadelphous, and the genus ranges 

 among the GeraniaceeB. Generic character : calyx 

 of five sepals, mucronate and awned at the top ; 

 petals five, large, bitten into teeth ; urceolus bearing 

 stamens ; anthers oblong ; style awl-shaped ; stigmas 

 five ; urceoli five-seeded ; seeds with twisted tails. 

 Propagated by cuttings or from pieces of the root. 



MONSTER. Any production of nature which, 

 in the form of its organs, or any of them, deviates 

 from the usual type of its species. The word is not 

 applied to unusual colour, or to a deficiency of the 

 usual number of parts. Thus, for instance, an albino 

 is not accounted a monster ; neither is an animal 

 which comes into the world without one or more of 

 its limbs. If, however, there is a part which deviates 

 completely from its type, or one which is doubled, or 

 has a portion of a similar or a different part adhering 

 to it, or growing out of the same structure with it, 

 then it is considered a monster, and the monstrosity 

 is considered as being greater in proportion as the 

 part thus produced is larger and more important. 



There is nothing in the name monster, considered 

 in its general meaning, which conveys anything more 

 than that the subject to which the term is applied is 

 calculated, monstrari, to show itself, or cause itself to 

 be taken especial notice of; and then it may be with 

 propriety, and it is in fact, applied to a remarkable 

 showing of any kind, whether natural or moral, good 

 or bad. 



Natural monsters have attracted a good deal of 

 attention, more especially in the ages of ignorance, 

 and much has been written on their physiology with- 



