MYR 
"witliJn reach of a port, the sailors make be- 
soms of it for sweeping their ships. Native 
of tlie northern parts of Europe and North 
America. 
M\RIOPHYLLUai, in botany, a ge- 
ms of the Monoecia Polyandria class and 
order. Natural order of Inundatze. Naia- 
des, Jussieu. Essential cliaracter: calyx 
four-leaved; corolla none: male, stamina 
eight : female, pistils four ; style none ; 
seeds four, naked. There are two species, 
viz. M. spicatnm, spiked water milfoil, and 
M. verticillatum, whorled water milfoil. 
These are perennial herbs, inhabitants of 
the water ; leaves in whorls, pinnate, linear ; 
flowers axillary, sessile, solitary, in the up- 
per whorls male, in the lower female ; in 
the second species they are frequently her- 
maphrodite, 
- MYRISTICA, in botany, nutmeg-tree, a 
gcnns of the Dioecia Syngenesia class and 
order. Natural order of Lauri, Jussieu. 
Essential character: calyx trifid; corolla 
none: male, filament columnar; anthers 
terminating, united : female, capsule supe- 
rior, drupaceous, two-valved ; nut involved 
in an aril, called the mace. There are 
three species, of which M. aromatica, aro- 
matic or true nutmeg-tree, grows to a con- 
siderable size in the East Indies, with erect 
branches, and a smooth ash-coloured bark ; 
the inner bark is red ; leaves petioled, al- 
ternate, quite entire, shining, paler under- 
neath, nerved ; peduncles axillary, two or 
three-flowered, solitary; only one flower 
arrives at maturity ; calyx fleshy, smooth ; 
segments spreading, shorter than the tube ; 
filament solid, the length of the calyx ; an- 
thers eight, ten, or twelve, growing longitu- 
dinally round the upper half of the filament ; 
calyx in the female smaller; covering of the 
fruit or mace subdivided irregularly like a 
net, fulvous. The leaves are aromatic ; and 
if the trunk or branches be wounded, they 
will yield a glutinous red liquor. 
MYRMECIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Gentian*, Jussieu. Essen- 
tial character: calyx tubular; five-toothed ; 
corolla oue-petalled, with an inflated mouth 
and five-cleft border ; germ with five glands 
at the base; stigma bilamellate ; capsule 
two-celled, two-valved, many-seeded. There 
is but one species, viz. M. tachia, which is 
a shrub five or six feet in height ; thick at 
the base, gradually diminishing as it as- 
cends, throwing out a few long, rough, four- 
cornered branches, w'hich are opposite and 
tubular; at each knot of these branches grow 
MYR 
two opposite leaves, disposed crossway.s ; 
from the bosom of one of these leaves pro- 
ceeds a sessile flower, of a yellow colour ; 
and it generally hap|)ens, that at the bo- 
soms of those leaves which do not produce 
flowers, a tear of yellow resin make* its ap- 
pearance. Tlie hollow trunk and branches' 
of this shrub are commonly the retreat of a 
great many ants, for which reason it is call- 
ed by the natives of Guiana, tachi, which is 
said to signify an ant’s nest. 
MYRMECOPHAGA, the ant-eater, in 
natural history, a genus of Mammalia, of 
the order Bruta. Generic character : no 
teeth ; tongue extensile and cylindric ; 
mouth elongated into a form somewhat tu- 
bular ; body covered with hair. Though 
these animals are stated above to have no 
teeth, dissection shows that they have cer- 
tain bony substances, not very dift’erent 
from them, fixed firmly at the lower end of 
their jaws. They subsist on insects, and 
particularly that species of them from 
which they are designated. Thrusting their 
tongue into a nest of ants, tlie glutinous 
substance which exudes from it, serves to 
attach to it inextricably numbers of these 
insects, and when the animal perceives, by 
the exquisite feeling of the papill®, that he 
has secured a sufficient number, he with- 
draws his tongue by an iastantaneous move- 
ment, and swallows his victims. There are 
seven species. The following are princi- 
pally deserving of attention. 
M. jubata, or the great ant-eater, is an 
animal of a very inelegant and rough ap- 
pearance, and more than seven feet in 
length. It is a native of South America, 
slow in its movements, and heavy in it* 
manners, sleeping during almost the whole 
day; the night it passes principally in 
search of food. With its fore claws it can 
destroy by pressure and laceration animals 
apparently much stronger ,tbau itself. In a 
state of confinement it has devoured four 
pounds of animal food in a d.iy. 
M. tetradactyla, or the middle ant-eater, 
is far inferior in size, being little more than 
two feet in its whole length. It is a native 
of the same regions, and is similar in its ha- 
bits. It possesses, however, a prehen.si.e 
power with its tail, and in climbing trees, 
and, moving from branch to branch, is 
much assisted by tb.is circumstance. 
M. didactyla, or the little ant-eater, is 
about as large as a squirrel, covered with a 
soft and curled fur of yellow brown, and 
possesses considerable elegance. Its tail is 
prehensile; it resides in trees, and subsists, 
