2-12 
M U S 
M U S 
Musca flava, is one of the smallest but 
most elegant of the European flies; it is of 
a yellow colour, with bright gold-green 
eyes. 
MUSCI, Mosses, one of the seven fami- 
lies or classes into which all vegetables arc 
divided by Linnaeus in the Phiiosoplna 13o- 
tanica, is the 2d order in the cryptogamia 
class, according to the sexual system. 
The more perfect kinds of mosses are 
found in the shape of small but regular plants, 
divided into several branches, and clothed 
with leaves . these are of various forms and 
structures ; some being broad and thin, others 
slender as hairs ; some pellucid, others 
opaque ; some smooth, others hairy. From 
the ake of these leaves in some kinds, and 
from tire summit of the stalks in others, 
there arise heads or capsules of various ligure 
and structure, but all unicapsular ; some of 
these are naked, and others covered with a 
calypira-or hood; some stand on long pe- 
dicles, and others are placed close to the 
stalks. These heads are usually called cap- 
sular, which contain their seeds or farina; 
and their pedicles setce, in the mnia, hypna, 
brya, and polytricha, &c. These capsules 
in some are covered with a calyptra or hood; 
in others they are naked. Of the first kind 
are the splachnum, polytrichum, innium, 
bryum, hypnum, tbntinaiis, and buxbaumia; 
and ot the latter sort, the lycopodium, po- 
rella, sphagnum, and phascuni. 
Some of the mosses, it is evident, approach ' 
to the nature of the plants which have their 
male and female parts in the same flower, 
and others to those which have them in dif- 
ferent ones. After all, this tribe of plants, 
as well as the mushrooms, ferns, and sea- j 
weeds, is still imperfectly’ known. The cha- j 
racteristics of these plants, however, accord- ; 
ing to tire sexual system, are, 1. Tops with- I 
out filaments or threads. 2. The male flow- ' 
er, constituted by the presence of the an- j 
therse or tops, placed apart from the female, | 
either on the same or distinct roots. 3. The ! 
female roots, flowers deprived of the pistiL) 
lum or pointal. 4. The seeds devoid of both ■ 
lobes (cotyledones) and proper coverings, i 
so that they exhibit the naked embryo. I 
This order is subdivided into 13 genera, j 
from the presence or absence of the calyx, ' 
which in these plants is a veii or cover like 
a monk’s eosil, that is placed over the male 
organs or tops ot the stamina, and is deno- 
minated caivptra, from the sexes of the 
plants, which bear male and female flowers, 
sometime:; on the same, sometimes on dis- j 
tinct roots; and from the maimer of growth : 
of the female flowers, which are sometimes 
produced singly, sometimes in bunches or 1 
cones. 
The manner of seeding of mosses in gene- \ 
ral, may be more clearly understood from the | 
desorption of that genus of them which has ; 
been traced through all its tages, and to > 
which’ most of the others, though every ge- ! 
nus has its distinct fructification in some re- 
spects, yet bear a very general analogy. 
The genus already observed, is that called 
by Dr. Diilenius, the hypnum. The species 
of this are very numerous and common ; 
but that particular one which was the . inject 
of these observations, is the short-branched 
silky kinds, common on old walls; and call- 
ed bv tiiat author in Ids History, hypnum vul- 
M U S 
gare, sericum, recurvum, capsulis crectis 
euspidatis. 
The head of this moss appears to the 
naked eye a small, smooth, brownish-yellow, 
oblong body, of about a ninth of an inch 
long ; this is covered at its upper end with a 
membranaceous calyptra or hood, in shape re- 
sembling an extinguisher, or a funnel in- 
verted. When this calyptra is taken off, and 
the head viewed with a microscope, the sur- 
face of it is seen to be ridged with longitu- 
dinal striae. The basis of the head is of a 
deep orange-colour, and more opaque than 
the rest ; and the top is bounded by an 
orange-coloured ring, swelling out something 
beyond the surface of the contiguous parts of 
the head. Good glasses show that in this 
head there are not wanting the parts essen- 
tial to the fructification of what are usually 
called the more perfect plants. This ring is 
truly a monophyilous undulated calyx, with- 
in which arise sixteen pyramidal fimbriated 
stamina; these are of a pale-greenish co- 
lour, and are loaded with a whitish oval fa- 
rina. The stamina all bend toward each 
other from their bases, and almost meet in a 
point at the tops. This is their appearance 
when the head is nearly ripe ; and immedi- 
ately under the arch formed by these stami- 
na, is a cylindric hollow pistillum, through 
which the farina makes its way, and is dis- 
persed among the seeds in the head. The 
fruit is a large capsule, filling every part 
of the membrane which shows itself on j 
the outside ot the head, and in most j 
places is contiguous to it ; this capsule is 
till eel with perfec t and very beautiful seeds ; 
they are round, transparent when unripe, 
but afterwards opaque, and of a very beauti- ( 
ful green, which colour they retain even 
when dried. 
When this head is first produced from the I 
plant, the stamina are very slender, and stand j 
erect; the head is scarcely any thicker than : 
the stalk, and the calyptra. covers i all over, ! 
to shield the tender substance of the Lrina 
from externa! injuries. As 'he farina af- 
terwards swells in the <; rnit i the seeds in 
the head increase also i br and by their 
increase the head is 101 •. ided in thick- 
ness ; and the stamina are by this means se 
parated tart her and bother from each ether i 
at their bases, but bend inwards toward their i 
points, so as to form a kind ot arched co- 
vering over the stigma of the pistillum, ! 
which is single , and hence the farina falls as j 
it ripens into the head, and impregnates tire ; 
seeds. 
The 1 1 principal genera are as follow : ; 
lycopodium, polytrichum, bryum, selagines, I 
usneae, mnium, byssi, sphagnum, hypna, J 
confervse, and fontinales. These are found | 
growing on the barks of trees as well as on 
the ground. 
Many of the mosses grow on rocks and 
barren places, and, rotting a wav, afford the 
flrst principles of vegetation to other plants, 
which could never else have taken root there. 
Others grow in bogs and marshes, and by 
continual increase and decay till 'up and con- 
vert them either into fertile pastures, or into 
peat-bogs, the source of inexhaustible fuel 
to the polar regions. They are applicable 
also to many domestic purposes: the lyco- 
podiums are some ol them used in dyeing 
ot yarn, and in medicine ; the sphagnum 
and polytrichum furnish convenient beds for 
the Laplanders ; and the hypnums are used 
in tiling of houses, stopping crevices in walls, 
packing up of brittle wares and the roots of ] 
plants for distant conveyance, &c. 
MUSCICAPA, or Fly-catcher, a genus | 
of birds belonging to the order of passeres.. 
The bill is flatted at the base, almost trian- 
gular, notched at the upper mandible, and 
beset with bristles ; the toes (generally) di- 
vided as far as their origin. There are 97 
species; the most remarkable are: 
1. Tiie grisola, or spotted fly-catcher, 
about five inches and three quarters long. 
The head is large, of a brownish hue, spotted 
obscurely with black: the back is of a mouse- 
colour; the wings and tail are dusky; the breast 
and belly white. It is a bird of passage ; ap- j 
.pears here in the spring, breeds with us, and ] 
departs in September. It builds its nest 
against any part of a tree that will support 
it; often in the hollow caused by the decay, 
of some large limb, hole in a wall, &c. also 
on old posts and beams of barns; and is j 
found to return to the same place season after 
season, it lays four or live pale eggs mark- I 
ed with reddish. It teeds on insects, and 
collects them on the wing. 
2. The flabellifera, or fan-tailed fly-catch-, j 
er, is in length six inches and a half: the J 
head is black, which colour descends on the 
back part lower than the nape, whence it 
passes forward in a narrow collar to the 
throat ; the chin, throat, and sides of the 
neck, except where this collar passes, are 
white, and over the eye is a white streak 
like an eye-brow ; the tail is longer than the i 
body, the two mid le leathers black, the 
others white ; the legs are dusky This ] 
species inhabits the southern isle’ of New 
Zealand; where rt is seen constantly hunting 
after insects, and flies always with its tail in 
shape ot a fan. It is easily tamed ; and will j 
then sit on any person’s shoulder, and pick 
off the flies. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 281. 
3. The caribonensis, or cat-bird, is some- 
what bigger than a lark : length eight inches: J 
bill black ; the upper parts of the body and 
wings are of a deep brown ; the under ash- j 
coloured; ihe crown oi the head is black; ! 
the tail is blackish ; and the legs are brown,, j 
This species is found in Virginia in the sum- 
mer-season . where it frequents shrubs rather 
than tali trees, and feeds on insects; its cry 
resembles that of a cat, whence the English 
name givei it by Catesby. 
1 i :ie rubicollus, - purple-throated fly- 
catcher, is about the size of a blackbird; 
the whole plumage is black, except hie chin, 
throat, and tore part ot the neck, on which 
is a large bed of beautiful crimson, inclining 
to purple ; the legs are black These birds 
inhabit Cayenne and other parts of South 
America; where they are found, in flocks, 
and precede in genera i the toucans in their 
movements. They fe d on fruits and in- 
sects, and are lively birds, always in action. 
They for tiie most part frequent the woods, j 
like the toucans ; and where the first are 
found, the others are seldom far ort. See j 
Plate Nat. Ilist. fig. 283. 
M U S C L E. See Anatomy. 
Muscles, Insertion and force of the. The I 
all-ivise Author ot nature has furnished ani- 1 
mals with limbs, moveable about the joints 
by means of muscular cords, inserted near 
the joint or centre ot motion ; the great 
wisdom of which will appear, from supposing 
