M U S 
them in up to the thou liters. It is fuppofed to feed prin¬ 
cipally on the bulbous Ixix and Antholyzae. From the 
frequency of this fpecies about the Cape, it is fuppofed to 
be an animal of a prolific nature. See the Plate, fig. 5. 
51. Mils Capeniis, the Cape mole-rat: ruro-cinereous 
above, paler beneath, with very large naked front-teeth ; 
pentadadlyle feet, and white muzzle. This animal mea- 
lures about feven inches to the tail, which is very fiiort, 
nearly white, and flattifh. The general colour is a dulky 
rufous afh-brown, paler or more inclining to whitifh be¬ 
neath : the end or tip of the nofe is naked and black ; the 
remainder white, and on each fide are feveral ltrong white 
briitles : the chin, lower fides of the cheeks, and fpaces 
round the eyes, are alfo white, and on the hind-part of 
the head is an oval white 1'pot; the teeth are exferted or 
naked in a very remarkable degree, as will be evident 
from the figure (6); and it is very deftructive to gar¬ 
dens, flinging up hillocks, and eating various kinds of 
roots. 
52. Mus afpalax, the Daurian mole-rat: yellowifh-ci- 
nereou-s^wdth large cuneated front-teeth, and long claws 
on the fore-feet. In this fpecies, though the upper fore¬ 
teeth are naked, the lower are covered with a movable 
lip. There is no appearance of external ears, and the 
eyes are extremely fmall and deeply feated. The head is 
flat and blunt; the body fiiort, and lomewhat deprefled ; 
the limbs very firong, efpecially the fore-legs, the feet of 
which are large, naked, and well adapted for burrowing 
in the ground, having five toes, the three middle of 
which are furnilhed with long and ftrong flightly-curved 
claws : the hind-feet are alfo naked, and have five toes 
with fmall claws. This animal burrows, like the reft of 
this divifion, raifing numerous hillocks in its progrefs. 
It is a native of the Altaic Mountains, and of the coun¬ 
try beyond Lake Baikal. It differs confiderably in fize in 
different regions ; thofe of the Altaic Mountains fome- 
times meafuring near nine inches in length. The Ruffians 
call it the earth-bear. 
53. Mus typhus, the blind rat: without eyes, ears, or 
tail. Next to the M. maritimus, this is perhaps the largeft 
and moft remarkable of its tribe 5 meafuring between feven 
and eight inches in length, and being entirely deftitute 
both of eyes and tail: the defied! of the former is a very 
lingular circumftance, and the animal perhaps affords the 
only inftance of a truly blind or eyelefs quadruped. In 
the mole, the eyes, however fmall and deeply feated, are 
yet perfedl in their kind, and, though not calculated for 
acute vificn, ftill enable the animal to avoid the danger of 
expofure; but in the quadruped now under confideration, 
there are merely a pair of fubcutaneous rudiments of eyes, 
fmaller than poppy-feeds, and covered with a real fkin. 
It is probable, however, that even thefe minute organs 
are fufficient to give an obfcure perception of light, and to 
enable the animal to confult its fafety by generally conti¬ 
nuing beneath the furface. The external ears are alfo 
wanting; and the foramina leading to the internal organs 
are very fmall, entirely hid by the fur, and fituated at a 
great diltance backwards. There is fcarcely any diftinc- 
tion between the head and neck ; and the whole form of 
the animal, like that of the mole, is calculated for a fub- 
terraneous life ; the body being cylindrical, the limbs 
very fiiort, and the feet and claws, though fmall and weak 
in comparifon with thofe of moles, yet calculated for 
digging or burrowing in the ground. It delights in 
moift and turfy foils; and lives in great numbers in the 
fame places with the earlefs marmots. It burrows be¬ 
neath the turf to a very confiderable extent, with feveral 
lateral paflages made in queft of the roots on which it 
feeds : at the intervals of fome yards, there are openings 
to the furface to difcharge the earth, which forms in thole 
places hillocks of two yards in circumference, and of a 
great height. It works its way with its great teeth, and 
calls the earth under its belly with the fore-feet, and again 
behind it with its hind-feet; and it works with great agi¬ 
lity, ivotwkhftanding its. blindnefs.. 
M U S 247 
The colour of this animal is of a greyilh-brown ; the 
fur, which is very thick, foft, and downy, being dulky 
toward the roots, and greyilh toward the tips : the head 
is lighter, and the abdomen darker, than the other parts : 
the lower lip is alfo whitilh, and fometimes a white mark 
extends along the forehead : the front-teeth are very large, 
and are naturally bare or exferted ■. the lower pair being- 
much longer than the upper. This Angular fpecies is a 
native of the fouthern parts of Rufiia, where it burrows 
to a great extent beneath the furface, forming feveral la¬ 
teral paflages, by which it may pafs in queft of roots, See. 
It is faid to feed in particular on the roots of the Chcerophyi- 
lum bulbofum. In the morning-hours it fometimes quits 
its hole to balk in the funlhine; but, if difturbed, inftantiy 
takes refuge beneath the furface ; burrowing with great 
agility, and frequently in a perpendicular direction. Its 
bite is very fevere udien attacked : it emits a kind of 
fnorting found, and gnalhes its large teeth in a menacing 
manner, railing its head at the fame time. It does not 
appear that it lies torpid during winter, nor whether it 
lays in provilion for that leafon. The Ruffians call it flepez, 
or the blind ; the Coflacks, for the lame reafon, ilyie it 
sfochor nomon. In the Ukraine, the vulgar believe that 
the touching of a hand, which has fuffbeated this animal, 
has the fame virtue in curing the king’s-evil, as was once 
believed to be inherent in the royal family of Great Britain. 
Shaw's Gen. Zoology. Linn. Trail)', vol. v. vii. xi. Syft. of 
Nat. Hijl. by the Editor of this Work. 
MUS, a town of the illand of Sardinia: five miles weft 
of Cagliari. 
MUS ALPI'NUS, f. A name given by many authors to 
the mountain-rat, more commonly known by the name 
of the marmot. See Arctomys, vol. ii. 
MUS PHARAO'NIS, or Pharoah’s Rat, f. A name 
given by the people of Egypt to the ichneumon, a crea¬ 
ture of the weafel kind, which they are very fond of for¬ 
ks dellroying ferpents, and keep tame about their houfes,. 
as we do cats. See Viverra ichneumon. 
MUS TER'RAs, f. in botany, a name given by fome 
authors to the roots of the Bulbocaftanum, or earth-nut. 
It was probabj}' at firft muris terra radix, the earth-moufe’s- 
root, and fo called from the earth-mice or field-mice being 
very fond of them ; but, the word radix being left out, it. 
Hands only mas terra. 
MU'SA, a town of Arabia, in the province of Yemen. 
This towm is a kind of market for fruit and fowls to 
Mocha. It is populous, and furrounded with walls. It- 
is eighteen miles eaft of Mocha. 
MU'SA, a river of Saxony, which runs into the Elbe 
near Meiffen. 
MU'SA, f. [corrupted, or rather refined, from mauz, 
the Egyptian appellation of this valuable plant, and made, 
clafiicai in the works of Linnaeus, by an allufion to mu fa,. 
a mufe; or, with much greater propriety, to Antonins 
Mu fa, the phyfician of Auguftus, who, having written oa 
fome botanical fubjedts, may juftly be commemorated in 
the above name.] The Plantain-tree; in botany, m 
genus of the clafs polygamia, order monoecia; or rather 
clafs hexandria, order monogynia ; natural order feita- 
minete, Linn, (mufe, Jujj.) Generic charadters — Calyx:, 
a number of partial fiieaths, on a Ample- common Italic,, 
each ovate-oblong, rather concave, large, alternate, con¬ 
taining many flow'ers; perianthium none. Corolla: fu- 
perior, unequal, ringent, the petal v conftituting the up-, 
per lip; the nedtnry the lower. Petal eredl, ligulate, 
abrupt, five-toothed, its two fides meeting at the bafe„. 
Nedtary of one leaf, heart-lhaped, boat-like, comprefled, 
pointed, Ihorter than the petal, and inferted withinfide- 
ofitsbafe, fpreading outwards. Stamina: filaments fix, 
awl-ftiaped, five of them within the petal, eredl:, the fixth 
within the nedtary, reclining; anthers linear, longitudi¬ 
nally attached from the middle of the filament to its fum-. 
mit; fome of them, in one flower or another, imperfedt.. 
Piftillum : germen inferior, very large, bluntly triangu¬ 
lar; ftyle cylindrical, eredt, the.lengthof the petal.; ftigma, 
capitate^ 
