795 



MONOGAMOUS. Living with one mate or 

 partner ; opposed to polygamous. 



MONOGRAPH. An account or description of 

 a single thing or class of things. 



MONOMEROUS. A term denoting that the 

 trunk of an insect has no suture or seg- 

 ment ; or that the trochanter consists of 

 only one joint. 



MOXOMYARY. A hivalve whose shell is 

 closed by one adductor muscle. 



MONOTHALMOUS. One-chambered ; an epi- 

 thet applied to shells when the chamber is 

 not divided by partitions. 



MONSTER. An animal produced with a 

 shape or parts that are not natural. 



MORPHOLOGICAL. Relating to the modifica- 

 tions of form which the same organ under- 

 goes in different animals. 



MORTAL. Subject to death ; destructive to 

 life. 



MOSCIIATE. Having a scent resembling 

 musk. 



MOSS-CLAD. Covered or overgrown with 

 moss. 



MOTATORIOUS. Pertaining to the motatorii, 

 those legs which, when an insect is at rest, 

 are in a perpetual vibratory motion. 



MOTORY (nerves). The nerves which con- 

 trol motion. 



MOTTLED. Clouded or spotted with various 

 colours. 



MOUSK-COLQURED. Black with a small pro- 

 portion of yellow : the colour of tiie com- 

 mon mouse. 



MUCILAGE. The liquor which moistens and 

 lubricates the ligaments and cartilages of 

 the articulations or joints in animal bodies. 



MUCILAGINOUS. Moist, soft, and lubricous ; 

 partaking of the nature of mucilage. 



Mucuo. A short, stout, sharp-pointed pro- 

 cess. 



MUCRONATE. Ending in a sharp rigid point. 



MUCROXATE (antennae). When they termi- 

 nate ill a short point or mucro. 



Mucus. A viscid fluid secreted by the 

 mucous membrane, which it serves to 

 moisten and defend. It covers the lining 

 membranes of all the cavities which open 

 externally, as the mouth, nose, lungs, in- 

 testinal canal, urinary passages, &c. The 

 word mucus is also sometimes applied to 

 other animal fluids of a viscid quality, as 

 the syuovial fluid which lubricates the 

 joints. 



MULATTO. The offspring of a negress by a 

 negro, 



white man, or 



white woman by a 



MULTANGULAR. Having many angles. 



MULTICAVOUS. Having many holes or cavi- 

 ties. 



MULTIFID. Cleft into many divisions by 

 linear sinuses. 



MULTIFORM. Having many shapes, forms, 

 or appearances. 



MULTIGENEROUS. Consisting of many kinds. 



MUTILATED. Deprived of a limb or some 

 essential part. 



MULTILOCULAR. Having many cells or 

 chambers : consisting of several divisions. 



MULTIPAKOUS. Producing many at a birth. 



MULTIPARTITE. Divided into more than 

 four parts. 



MULTISECX. When an insect appears to 



have no distinct trunk or abdomen, but is 

 divided into numerous segments. 



MULTIVALVE. A shell composed of many 

 pieces or valves. 



MULTIVALVULAR. Having many valves. 



MULTOCULAR. Having many eyes. 



MURICATE. MUHICATED. In insects, when 

 the surface is covered with sharp, thick, 

 but not close, elevated points or pustules. 

 In shells, when clothed with sharp spines. 



MURINE. Pertaining to the genus 31 us. 



MULTIARTCULATE. Consisting of many 

 joints. 



MUSCLE. An animal tissue composed of 

 little bundles of fibres, inclosed in a thin 

 cellular membrane, and serving as the 

 organs of motion. There are voluntary 

 and involuntary muscles ; and all are BUS- i 

 ceptible of contraction and relaxation. 

 The voluntary muscles are those over 

 which the will exercises a direct control, 

 as in all the motions of the limbs, eyes, 

 organs of speech, &c-j and the involuntary, 

 those over which the will has no immediate 

 and constant control, but form the muscu- 

 lar systems of organic life, as the heart, 

 the muscular coat of the stomach, &c. The 

 muscles of each animal are disposed in 

 number and direction according to the 

 movements which it has to execute ; and 

 when these movements require to be 

 effected with some vigour, the muscles are 

 inserted into hard parts, articulated one 

 over another, and may be considered as so 

 many levers. These parts are called bones 

 in the vertebrated animals, where they 

 are internal, and formed of a gelatinous 

 mass, penetrated with molecules of phos- 

 phate of lime. In molluscs, crustaceans, 

 and insects, where they are external, and 

 composed of a calcareous or corneous sub- 

 stance that exudes between the skin and 

 epidermis, they are termed shells, crusts, 

 and scales. The colour of the muscles is 

 dependent partly on the blood which they 

 contain, but chiefly on a peculiar colour- 

 ing matter, very similar to that of the 

 blood, which is fixed in their tissue. Their 

 colour is distinctly though remotely con- 

 nected with the quantity and condition of 

 red blood in the system, and its depth is 

 one of the best signs of robustness and full 

 health. Thus in all quadrupeds and birds i 

 the muscles are more or less red, and the | 

 colour is deepest in the parts which are 

 most actively employed, but pale and 

 scarcely perceptible in those which hare 

 not been frequently exerted. In amphibia, 

 which have less red blood than mammalia 

 and birds, the muscles are usually pale : 

 in fish, which have still less, they are, 

 with the exception of the heart, and those 

 which move the fins and are particularly 

 exerted, (except in a very few instances,) 

 quite white. In animals of a still lower 

 order, the muscles are all quite white." 

 The intensity of muscular contraction, 

 that is, the degree of power with which the 

 fibres draw themselves together, is regu- 

 lated by the action of the brain ; but a very | 

 great cerebral energy is rarely found united 

 with that disposition of the muscular fibres 

 which is necessary to produce intense i 



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