M U S 
often called children from the ftreets for the like purpofe, 
and rewarded each with a fmall piece of money. It is 
•mentioned likewife by his biographer, that his wife, having 
returned one evening from a vilit, found her hatband 
feated by the fire-fide, involved in clouds of tobacco- 
fmoke, and liftening with great attention to an old foldier, 
■who was occafionally fmoking his pipe and narrating tales 
of ancient times. Mufeus now became a favourite writer 
of the Germans; and his Popular Tales were much read, 
and are ftill read with pleafure. The “ Vifions of Friend 
Heins,” in Holbein’s manner, which he publifhed in 1786, 
abound in philofpphical refledtions, and difplay great wit 
and humour. He began afterwards a new feries of tales, 
under the title of u Oftrich Feathers,” the firlt volume of 
which only he lived to finilh. He died in October 1787, 
of a difeafe of the heart, in the fifty-fecond year of his age. 
If Mufseus was eftimable as a writer, he was ftill more 
fo as a man. The principal traits in his charafter were 
uninterrupted cheerfulnel's, univerfal benevolence, and fo 
much modefty, that nothing but confined circumftances 
induced him to become a writer. His amufements were 
fimple and innocent. In a word, he was one of thofe 
few fortunate beings who, in the courfe of their life, never 
have an enemy. He wrote fatires, but they excited no 
animofity againft him. In his manner, as a writer, he had 
•fomething peculiar and charadteriftic; and, being fully 
matter of the German language, he fought out many ex- 
preftive words conligned to oblivion, and brought them 
again in circulation. He introduced alfo into his works 
many foreign words, but with fo much propriety, that no 
room is left for criticifm. His works, befides thofe already 
mentioned, are, 5. The Female Gardener, a comic opera 
in three adts ; Weimar, 1781, 8vo. The idea of this piece 
is taken from the French romance. La Jardiniere de Vin¬ 
cennes. 6. Moral Amufements for Children; new edition, 
Gotha, 1794, 8vo. This is an imitation of Monget’s 
Hochet’s Moraux, which appeared at Paris in 1782. The 
pofthumous works of Mufaeus were publifhed by his pupil, 
Auguftus von Kotzebue, at Leipfic, 1791, 8vo. Gen. Biog. 
Suppl. 
MUSAGA'TA, a town of Portugal, in the province 
of Beira: nine miles fouth-eaft of St. Joao da Pefqueira, 
and nine fouth-fouth-weft of Torre de Moncorvo. 
MUSAGE'TES, in mythology, the appellation of 
Apollo, as the conductor of the Mufes. The fame name 
was alfo given to Hercules. 
MUSA'LI, in Hindoo mythology, a name of one of the 
Hamas. (See Rama.) The word is derived from the 
large wooden peftle ufed for feparating rice from the hulk. 
This peftle is called mufnl, and in images and fculptures 
is feen in the hand of Bala Rama, indicating that, as well 
as a warrior, he was alfo a benefactor to mankind. In his 
hand a plough is alfo fometimes feen, and one of his 
names, Halayudha, or “ plough-armed,” is thence derived ; 
alfo Haladhera, or the u plough-bearer,” more corredtly, 
perhaps, Haladhara; like Gangadhara, or Murlidhara, as 
mentioned in the article Murli, p. 227. 
MUSA'NO, a town of Italy, in the Trevifan : five miles 
weft-north.-weft of Trevigio. 
MU'SAPH, j. The code of the Tnrkifh laws. A book 
faid to contain all the laws of the Turks. AJh. 
MUSA'RD, f. [mvfard , Fr.] A dreamer; one who is 
apt to be abfent of mind. Ohfolete. The word is now 
mnfer. —She that maie be no mnj'drde. Chaucer's Rom. R. 
MU'SART, or Massurt, a fnowy ridge of mountains, 
which palfes fouth in Afiatic Ruflia from Bogdo Alim, 
and is fuppofed to join the mountains of Thibet. It is 
faid to give rife to the rivers Sihon and Talas. 
MUSA'Y, a town of Hungary : ten miles from Mun- 
kacz. 
MUS'CA, f. the Fly ; In entomology, a genus of im=- 
fedts of the order diptera, of which the generic characters 
are—Mouth with a fqft exlerted flelhy probofcis, and two 
■equal lips; fucker furnilhed with briftles 5 feelers two, but 
M U S 251 
very Ihort, and fometimes none at all; antennas generally 
ftiort. More than five hundred fpecies are defcribed by 
Gmelin : in two feCtions ; viz. I. with two fiiort feelers; 
and II. without any feelers. The latter, however, in¬ 
cludes only eleven fpecies of the vaft number already 
mentioned- Thefe grand feCtions are again feparated 
into ftill fmaller divifions. 
Although the number of known fpecies in this genus 
is fo very large, yet it is probable it bears no fort of pro¬ 
portion to the number that is ftill unknown, or that, at 
prefent, has not been arranged under fpecific characters. 
Mr. Harris, in his Englilh Entomology, has defcribed a 
greater number of fpecies than Linnaeus enumerated as 
exifting in the world ; and yet England is not the country 
that is likely to be moft productive of this infeCt. The 
fouthern countries of Europe afford a much greater va¬ 
riety of fpecies than thofe that are more north : in hot 
climates-, in general, they are always numerous, and, in a 
multitude of inftances, they multiply to a degree that is 
almoft intolerable. In Spain, they were formerly fo nu¬ 
merous, that the fly-catcher, we are told, was not only a 
profeftion, but a number of men were commiffioned by 
government to give chafe to thefe troublefome invaders. 
Next to the number of flies, their variety claims our 
attention. The different fpecies are extremely diverfified 
in their external form, their ftrudture, their organization, 
their metamorphofes, their manner of propagating their 
fpecies and in providing for their pofterity. A full ex¬ 
planation of thefe different parts of their economy, would 
require a large volume, and would conftitute a narrative 
to many readers not uninterefting. Such an undertaking, 
however, is incompatible with the limits prefcribed to 
our work. In addition, therefore, to what has been al¬ 
ready faid under the article Entomology, vol. vi. it may 
be fufticient to obferve, in this place, that the larvae, in 
the different tribes of flies, differ far more in habit than 
the complete infedts; fome being terreftrial, and others 
aquatic. Thofe of the more common kinds are empha¬ 
tically diftinguifhed by the title of maggots, and fpring 
from eggs depofited on various putrid fubftances. Several 
of the aquatic kinds are of Angularly curious formation, 
and exhibit wonderful examples of the provifion ordained 
by Nature for the prefervation of even the meaneft and 
feemingly moft contemptible of animals. Several are in¬ 
habitants of plants, feeding during this ftate on other 
living infedls. The general form of the chryfalis or pupa 
is that of an oval, differently modified according to the 
fpecies, and formed by the external fidn of the larva, 
which hardens round the chryfalis. Some fpecies how¬ 
ever call their fkin before their change into the pupa- 
llate. 
Some of thefe infedts have trunks inllead of a mouth; 
others have that organ armed with teeth ; and many have 
both a mouth and a trunk. T he probofcis of flies is a 
machine contrived for pumping the blood from the veffels 
of large animals, and the nedtar from the petals of flowers; 
and the fcience of hydraulics has not enabled men to 
conftrudt machines more complicated, more exadtly ar¬ 
ranged, or better adapted to thefe purpofes. Some of 
them poffefs coniiderable firmnel’s and lolidity, thofe ef- 
pecially that are deftined to pierce the lkins of cattle. lit 
order to fee them at work, all that is neceffary is to expofe 
a fyrup to attradl them, and to take up a lens for their 
infpedtion. 
Each eye of the fly contains in it an affemblage of a 
great number of fmall ones, which probably have the 
effedtof multiplying the furrounding objects, and creating 
reprefentations of them, which the experience of the in- 
fedt corredts. From the eye if you pafs along and furvey 
the body, you find it provided with the organs of refpi- 
ration. Four linail ftigmata, for this purpofe, are found 
upon the thorax, and a greater number difperfed over 
the annuli of the abdomen. The covering of the dif¬ 
ferent parts of the abdomen are fcaly, and do not conlift 
