MU 8 
ingly gfcat, and nearly a bushel of nuts and 
mast is said to have been discovered in a 
single hole. 
M. messorious, or the harvest mouse, is 
considered as the smallest of British quad- 
rupeds, weighing only the sixth part of an 
ounce. Its nest is most artificially con- 
structed and platted of the blades of wheat, 
and is of the size of a cricket ball, the open- 
ing to it being closed up so skilfully, as to 
be almost imperceptible. Such is its com- 
pactness, that it may be rolled over the 
table without derangement. One found of 
this description contained eight young, and 
appeared completely full without the dam, 
whose mode of access to it, so close and 
compact as it appeared on every side, 
seemed not easy to be explained. In the 
winter these animals burrow deep in the 
oartli ; but their favourite habitation is the 
corn stack. 
For M. lineatns, or the lineated mouse, 
see Mammalia, Piate XVI. fig. 1 . 
For M. striatus, or the striated mouse, 
see Mammalia, Plate XVI. fig. 
MUSA, in liotany, so named in memory 
of Antonins Musa, the freedman of Augus- 
tus, a genus of the Polygamia Monoecia 
class and order. Natural order of Scitami- 
nciB. Mus*, Jussieu. Essential character; 
calyx spathe partial, many-flowered ; corolla 
two petalled; one petal erect, five-toothed, 
the other nectariferous, concave, shortrr; 
stamens six ; style one ; all tlie flowers her- 
maphrodites : male, hermaphrodite above ; 
five filaments perfect ; germ inferior, abor- 
tive : female hermaphrodite, one filament 
only perfect ; berry oblong, three-sided, in- 
ferior, many-seeded. There are three spe- 
cies, of whicli M. paradisiaca, plantain tree, 
rises with a soft herbaceous stalk, fifteen or 
twenty feet in height: tire lower part of 
the stalk is frequently as large as a man’s 
thigh, diminishing gradually to the top, 
where the leaves come out on every side, 
whicli are often more than six feet long, and 
two bro.ad; they are thin and tender, so 
that where tliey are exposed to the opeit 
ail tliey are generally torn by the wind ; 
when tlie plant is grown to its full height, 
lire spike of flowers will appear from the 
centre of the leaves nearly four feet in 
length, nodding on one .side; the upper 
part of the spike is made np of male or bar- 
ren flowers ; the fruit is about nine inches 
long, and more tlian an inch in diameter, a 
little incurved, having three angles; tlie 
.skin is tough, within is a soft pulp of a liis- 
sions sweet flavour j tlie spikes of fruit are 
MUS 
often so large as to weigh upwards of forty 
pounds. It is a native of the East Indies, 
and other parts of the Asiatic continent ; it 
is generally cultivated between the tropics, 
and is universal in all the islands, lliat are 
inhabited, of the Southern Pacific 06eau. 
M. sapientum, banana tree, differs from the 
preceding in having its stalks marked with 
dark purple stripes and spots ; the fruit is 
shorter and rounder, with a softer pulp of a 
more luscious taste; it has been noted for 
its efficacy in correcting tliose sharp hu- 
mours, which generate or accompany the 
fluxes to whicli Europeans are frequently 
subject on their first coming into the West 
Indies. Tliesc two fruits are said to he 
among the greatest blessings bestowed by 
Providence upon the inhabitants of hot 
climates ; three dozen plantains are suffi- 
cient to serve one man for a week instead 
of bread, and will support him much bet- 
ter. 
MU.SCA, in natural history, the jlij, a 
genus of insects of the order Diptera : mouth 
with a soft exserted flesliy proboscis, and 
two equal lips ; sucker furnished with bris- 
tles ; feelers two, very short ; antenn® ge- 
nerally short. This is a very numerous ge- 
nus, not fewer tlian a thousand species have, 
been enumerated. Tliey are divided into 
sections ; xiz. A. with short feelers; and B. 
without feelers. These sections are again 
separated into others. The larva in the dif- 
ferent tribes of flies differs far more in habit 
than the complete insects, some being ter- 
restrial, and others aquatic. Those of the 
common kinds are empliaticady distinguish- 
ed by the title of maggots, and .spring from 
eggs deposited on various putrid substances, 
.Several of the aquatic kinds are of singularly 
curious formation, and exhibit wonderful 
examples of the provision ordained by na- 
ture for the preservation of even the mean- 
est of animals. The general form of the 
pupa is tiiat of an oval, differently modified, 
according to the species, and formed by the 
external skin of the larva. Some species 
cast tlieir skin before their cliange into the 
pupa state. One of the most remarkable 
species is M. chameleon, which is a large 
black fly, with a broad, flatfish abdomen, 
having the sides of each segment yellow, 
forming so many abrupt semi-bands across 
that part. It proceeds from an aquatic 
larva, of very considerable size, measuring 
two inches and a half in length, which is 
common iii stagnant waters during the sum- 
mer months, and passes into its chrysalis 
state without casting its skin, wliich dries 
