N A R 
naturalifts; and diftinguifhed by Artedi by the 
name of the filurus with four beards under the 
chin. This chara6ler fufficiently difcrimi nates 
between it and the fifli called the lake, which, 
though a genuine fpecies of the filurus, has only 
one beard. 
MYSTUS FLUVIATILIS. A name by 
which Bellonius and fome others have expreffed 
the common barbel. 
MysTUS Marinus; the Sea-barbel. A fifli 
commonly caught in the Adriatic, and expofed to 
fale in the Venetian markets. It is of an oblong 
figure; and of a filvery white colour, variegated 
on each fide with ten obliquely tranfverfe black 
lines. The belly is pure white ; the head is long ; 
and the tail is forked. Part of the rays_ of the 
dorfal fin are prickly, and part foft ; the irides are 
yellow; the lips are prominent, thick, and foft, 
and only ferrated in the place of teeth; but, in 
the hinder part of the mouth, there are feveral 
rows of molares, or grinders. The fcales are 
large, and clofely adhere to the flefli, which is ex- 
ceedingly agreeable to the tafte. 
Mystus Niloticus. An appellation given 
by Bellonius to a fifh of the barbel kind, caught 
in the River Nile. The body is thick and 
fhort; the belly is very broad; and the weight 
is fometimes twenty pounds. Some have con- 
jjeftured that this is only the common barbel, 
grown to a larger fize than ufual, and hence va- 
rying a little from the ufual figure. 
MYTILUS. A claffical appellation for the 
mufcle-fhell. See Muscle. 
MYXINE. A genus of the inteftina clafs of 
worms in the Linnasan fyftem. The characters 
are: the body is round, and carinated in the lower 
part; the mouth is cirrous; the jaws are pinnated, 
and furnifhed with many fharp teeth; and there 
are no eyes. LinnEEus mentions only one fpecies, 
to which he gives the name of the glutinous 
Myxine. 
Thefe creatures, which are about eight inches 
long, inhabit the ocean; enter the mouths of 
fifhes when on the hooks of lines that remain a 
tide under water; and frequently devour the 
whole flefh, leaving nothing but the flcin and 
bones. The fifhermen of Scarborough frequently 
draw them up in the robbed fifti. 
LinnsEus afcribes to theie worms the quality of 
converting water into glue. 
MYXON. The name of a fifli of the mullet 
kind, called alfo Bacchus, It bears ^| ftrong re- 
femblanceto the common mullet ; bn^it's head is 
lefs pointed ; and it's body, exclufive of the fcales, 
is covered with a mucous matter. 
This fifli has a remarkable irregularity in it's 
manner of fwimming, v/hich is with a kind of un- 
dulating motion. 
N. 
NACRE. A genus of bivalve fliells; the 
characters of which are, that the fliell is 
fragile, furnifhed with a beard, gapes at one ex- 
tremity, and has a hinge without a tooth. See 
Pinna. 
NAGEMULUS. An appellation given by 
fome ichthyologifts to the Lucioperca of Wil- 
lughby and, others; in Englifh, the pike-perch. 
It is a genuine fpecies of perch, and principally 
diftinguiflied from the common kind by having 
two long teeth on each fide of the mouth. 
NAIA. A fpecies of coluber or fnake; the 
fcuta of whofe abdomen amount to one hundred 
and ninety, and the fquamas of the tail to fixty. 
NAKED DOG. A fpecies of the canine 
tribe. See Dog. 
NANTES. The name of an order of animals 
tinder the clafs of amphibia, in the Linnsan fyf- 
tem; the characters of which are, that they are 
pinnated, and refpire by lateral branchis or gills. 
This order comprehends fourteen genera, and 
feventy-fix fpecies. The petromyzon, raja, fqua- 
lus, and others, belong to this order. 
NAPUS. An appellation given to a fpecies 
of voluta, approaching to the nature of the beau- 
tiful and valuable admiral-fhell ; and more com- 
monly known by the name of the falfe or ballard 
admiral. 
NARCOS. A name ufed by fome authors to 
exprefs the torpedo, or cramp-fifh ; a fpecies of 
raia, diftinguifhed by Artedi under the appellation 
of the Raia totalgevis, the Ray entirely fmooth. 
Vol. II. 
NARINARI. A Brazilian fifli of the aquila 
marina kind. It is very large and flat; the figure 
of the body is nearly triangular; the head, which 
is very large, has a furrow down it's middle; the 
mouth is fomewhat triangular, but rounded at the 
angles ; it has no teeth, but, in their ftead, a bone 
in the under part of the mouth, fliaped like a 
tongue, about three inches long, and one inch 
broad; and in the upper part a fmaller bone of 
fimilar conformation, with which it crufiies it's 
food. The body is commonly about eighteen 
inches in length, and the tail nearly four feet. 
The flefh has an excellent flavour. 
Naturalifts are agreed that the bones found in 
the mouth of this, and in thofe of other fifhes of 
the fame kind, are the foflile filiqueftra. 
NARWAL. An appellation given to a fifii 
of the whale kind, more frequently called the fea- 
unicorn. 
This fifii is inferior to the whale in fize, feldom 
exceeding fixty feet in length ; and the body is 
more flender and lefs adipofe. But the moft dif- 
tinguiihing mark of this creature is it's teeth, (or 
tooth) which projeCt direClly forward from the 
upper jaw, and are from nine to fourteen feet in 
length. In all the variety of weapons v/ith which 
nature has armed her difi^ercnt tribes, there is none 
fo large or formidable as this, which is generally 
found fingle: but there is the flcull of a Narwal at 
the Sradthoufe of Amfterdam having two teeth; 
which plainly proves that, in fome of thefe ani- 
mals at ieaft, this inftrument is double. Indeed, 
2 I it 
