MUS 
over it, so as to preserve the former ap- 
jrearance of the anima! in a more, contract- 
ed state. M. tenax is a remarkable in- 
sect, about the size of a drone, of a brown 
colour, with transparent wings. It pro- 
ceeds from a larva of a very singular ap- 
pearance, being a long-tailed brown mag- 
got, of rather a slow motion, measuring 
about three quarters of an incli in length. 
Tills maggot is seen in muddy stagnant 
waters, drains, and other places of the dir- 
tiest description ; and, notwithstanding its 
nnpleasing appearance, exhibits many parti- 
culars well worthy of admiration : the feet 
are wonderfully calculated for enabling the 
animal to ascend walls, or other perpendi- 
cular places, in order to seek some proper 
situation in which it may undergo its change 
into chrysalis, being very broad, and beset 
on their under surface with numerous small 
hooked claws, giving it the power of cling- 
ing with security during its ascent. The 
larva commonly changes to a pupa about 
the end of August, the skin contracting and 
drying round the body, and the tail continu- 
ing in a shrivelled state. After remaining 
in this state about a fortnight, it gives birth 
to the complete insect. It is common in the 
month of September, and is often mistaken 
for a drone. Among the bristly flies is the 
M. carnaria, or common blow-fly, which de- 
posits its eggs on animal flesh, either fresh or 
putrid. The larva, or maggots, hatch in the 
space of a few hours, atid when full grown, 
which happens in eight or ten days ; they are 
of a yellowish colour, with a slight tinge of 
pale red. When the animal changes to a pupa, 
the skin dries round it, and the whole assumes 
a completely oval form, and a reddish co- 
lour. In ten days after the fly emerges. 
MUSCI, in botany, mosses, one of the 
seven families into which Linnseus divided 
all vegetables. The characteristics of these 
plants are, anthers without filaments ; the 
wale flower constituted by the presence 
of the anthers, placed apart from the fe- 
male, either on the same or distinct roots ; 
the female flower deprived of the pistillum ; 
the seeds devoid of both lobes, atid proper 
coverings. These plants constitute the se- 
cond order of the class Cryptogamia, which 
contains all the plants, in which the parts 
of the flower and fruit are wanting, or are 
not conspicuous. This order is subdivided 
into eleven genera, from the presence or 
absence of the calyx, which in these plants 
is a veil that is placed over the tops of the 
stamina, and denominated calyptra; from 
the sexes of the plants, which bear male 
MUS 
and female flowers, sometimes on the same, 
sometimes on distinct roots, and from the 
manner of growth of the female flowers, 
which are sometimes produced singly, some- 
times in bunches or cones. 
Musci, is also the name of the fifty-sixtli 
order in Linnaeus’s Fragments of a Natural 
Method, consisting of genera, which are 
exactly those of the second order in the 
class Cryptogamia. These plants resemble 
the pines and firs, and other evergreens in 
that class, in the form and disposition of 
their leaves ; and manner and growth of 
the female flowers, which are generally 
formed into a cone. They frequently creep 
and extend themselves like a carpet upon 
the ground, trees, and stones, collected into 
bunches or tufts. Few of the mosses are 
annual plants; they are mostly perennial 
and evergreens. Their growth is remark- 
ably slow; though preserved dry several 
years, these plants have the singular pro- 
perty of resuming their original verdure 
upon being moistened. They delight in a 
cool moist situation, and northerly ex- 
posure, where tliey are screened from the 
sun. The roots are fibrous, slender, branch- 
ed and short. The stems and branches are 
cylindric, and weak, they creep on the 
ground, and strike root on every side. 
MUSCICAPA, tlie Jiy-catcher, in natural 
history, a genus of birds of the order Pas- 
seres. Generic character; bill flatted at 
the base, nearly triangular, notched each 
side, at the root beset with bristles; toes, 
in general, divided to their origin. These 
birds are of eminent utility in warm cli- 
mates, by preying upon the numerous in- 
sects which swarm in them, and which 
would otherwise multiply to an extent, oc- 
casioning the most severe and intolerable 
annoyance. Latham enumerates seventy- 
eight species, Gnielin ninety-seven, of which 
it will be sufficient to notice the following : 
M. grisola, or the spotted fly-catcher, ar- 
rives in this country in the spring, and 
leaves it in September. It attaidies its nest 
not unfrequently to the end of a beam of 
a house; and sometimes builds it iu a vine 
or sweet briar tree, spread against a wall, 
and appears to feel no inconvenience or 
alarm from the circumstance of many per- 
sons passing to the door, almost immediate- 
ly under it, at every hour in the day. It 
returns for a succession of seasons to the 
same situation. It feeds on insects, winch 
it catches with astonishing dexterity, some- 
times on the wing, sometimes by a sudden 
leap ' from its perch, always returning to 
