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M O T H E R W O R T M U G I L O I D &. 



insects which every one must have noticed, namely, 

 their habit of entering lighted apartments during the 

 summer evenings, and riving around the candles 

 until their wings are burnt. We are at a loss how to 

 account for this peculiarity in insects whose ordinary 

 habit it is to avoid the light, and to remain inactive 

 until the twilight has commenced. Is it an extatic 

 kind of bewilderment which compels the creature, 

 even at the risk of its own life, to whirl round a light 

 at the particular period of time when it ought to be 

 upon the wing ? It would be a curious experiment 

 to ascertain whether a noctua, for instance, would act 

 thus, if introduced into a darkened room in the 

 middle of the day, into which a light were afterwards 

 to be brought. This may seem an absurd expe- 

 riment ; but we have so much to learn of the economy 

 of insect life, that it might possibly tend to other and 

 more advantageous experiments. This habit of flying 

 towards a light is made use of by collectors of moths, 

 who hang a bull's-eye lantern round their necks, 

 and, with the assistance of a flap-net, are enabled to 

 make very extensive captures during an evening's 

 walk. 



For the classification of these insects, and for many 

 other particulars which it is unnecessary here to 

 repeat, we must refer to the articles LEPIDOPTERA, 

 HAWK-MOTH, BOMBYX, GEOMETRIC^, &c. 



MOTHER WORT is the Leonurus cardiaca of 

 Linnaeus, a British herbaceous perennial, found on 

 gravelly banks, bearing spikes of labeate flowers. 



MOUNTAIN ASH is the Pyrus aucupana of 

 Gaertner, a British ornamental tree, found in moist 

 woods. It is cultivated for the beauty of its form 

 and foilage, and for the splendour of its bunches of 

 scarlet berries, so conspicuous in autumn and winter. 



MOUSE. See ARVICOLA for some of the species 

 of this exceedingly numerous and curious group ; 

 and RAT, for the rest of them, and the general 

 relations. 



MOUTAN is the Chinese name of the Pceonia 

 siiffrulicosa, and applied as a specific name in botani- 

 cal lists. This is a highly-valued plant in China, as 

 well as in this country, ever since its introduction. 

 There are several varieties of it, and all hardy enough 

 to bear the open air, with slight protection in win- 

 ter ; but they flower much finer under glass. They 

 succeed in any kind of garden soil, and are increased 

 by layers or cuttings. The Ixora coccinea is called 

 the Canton moutan by the gardeners of that city. The 

 Chinese have many vaiieties of peony not yet intro- 

 duced into this country. 



MOVING PLANT. This is the Desmodium 

 gyrans of Decandolle, and the Hedysarum movens, or 

 gyrans, of Linnaeus. The latter described this plant 

 as " wonderful on account of its singular motion, 

 which is not occasioned by any touch or irritation, or 

 movement in the air, as in Mimosa, Oxalis, and 

 Dionaea ; nor is it so evaneecent as in Amorpha. No 

 sooner (continues he) had the plants raised from seed 

 acquired their ternate leaves, than they began to be 

 in motion in every direction. This movement did 

 not cease during the whole course of their vegetation, 

 nor were they observant of any time, order, or 

 direction ; one leaflet frequently revolved, while the 

 other, on the same petiole, remained quiescent ; 

 sometimes a few leaflets only were in motion, then 

 almost all of them would be in movement at once ; 

 the whole plant was but seldom agitated, and that 

 <?nly during the first year. It continued to mov in 



the stove during the second year of its growth, and 

 was not at rest even in the winter. The irritability 

 of this Desmodium is never so great, even in our best 

 hothouses, as it is said to be in Bengal, and its mo- 

 tions here are seldom so lively as those described by 

 Linnaeus ; though the two upper and opposite leaflets 

 are often observed to rise and fall alternately, provided 

 the temperature be as high as 70 of Fahrenheit, and 

 the plarft be placed in shade. The motion is most 

 evident when the stove is closed, and the air perfectly 

 still. These movements have more the semblance of 

 spontaneity than any others that have been observed 

 in the more perfect plants ; for the leaflets, if held 

 quiet between the fingers for a short time, and these 

 movements thus prevented, are said, immediately on 

 their release, to revolve with accelerated speed, as if 

 to make up for the time lost during the forcible 

 interruption." 



MUCUNA (Adanson). A genus of tropical 

 climbers belonging to Legnminosa, separated from, 

 and including some plants of, the genera Dolichos, 

 Stizolobium, and Carpopogon. Some of the species 

 are remarkable for their stinging properties. Their 

 seeds are imported under the name of " bulls'-eyes," 

 and may be used as beads. The flowers are showy, 

 and the plants easy of cultivation in stoves. 



MUGILOIDjE the Mullet family. The eleventh 

 of those families into which Cuvier divides the spinous- 

 finned fishes, but which must not be confounded with 

 the surmullets, which are sometimes popularly called 

 mullets, but which belong to the perch family, and 

 have not the labyrinths in the pharynx which cha- 

 racterise that division of fishes to which the mullets 

 belong. The whole of this division of fishes are 

 capable of retaining a portion of water for some time 

 in the pharynx, by means of which they can keep 

 their gills moist for a longer or shorter time, and thus 

 live out of the water. The mullets get the name 

 Mugil, because, when out of the water, the escape of 

 the small portion of air which is expelled from the 

 lungs murmurs (mugit) as if the fish had voice. 



The mullet family consists of three divisions, 

 Mugil, Tetrogonurus, and Atherina, which will, how- 

 ever, be better considered separately ; and the 

 mullets themselves, which differ considerably in the 

 several species, shortly noticed in this article by 

 themselves as a little sub-group. Taking them in 

 this point of view, they are pretty distinct, and offer 

 the following characters : Their body is nearly cylin- 

 drical, or about equal in depth and breadth ; their 

 scales large ; two dorsal fins distinctly apart from 

 each other, with four spinous rays in the first one ; 

 the ventral fins abdominal, but placed farther for- 

 ward than the first dorsal, and only a little behind 

 the pectorals ; the middle of the under jaw with a 

 compressed, elevated and angular point, which fits 

 into a corresponding groove in the upper jaw ; the 

 teeth small, and six rays in the gills ; the head is 

 rather depressed, and covered with large scales ; 

 their teeth are often so exceedingly small as hardly 

 to be visible to the naked eye ; the bones of the 

 pharynx are very much produced, and give the 

 entrance of the gullet nearly the same form as that 

 of the mouth, so that nothing can enter the stomach 

 but liquids or very small substances ; the stomach 

 terminates in a sort of muscular gizzard, bearing some 

 resemblance to the gizzards of birds; the pyloric 

 appendages to the stomach are few, but the intestinal 

 canal is long and of ample diameter. The mullets 



