M Y R 
in reality-be coufidered, notwitliftanding its diminutive 
fize, as a fpecies of Hyftrix. Its length, from nofe to tail, 
js five inches, and of the tail fix inches and nine lines. 
See the Plate, fig. z. 
6. Myoxus guerlingus, the guerlinguet: body above 
ferruginous, yellowifli-rufous beneath; with long fubde- 
prefled tapering tail. This animal is defcribed in the 7th 
fupplemental volume of Button's Natural Hiftory, and is 
faid to be of the lize of a fquirrel, but of a longer form. 
It is a native of Guiana, and refides on palm-trees in the 
manner of a fquirrel, feeding on fruits, &c. Its teeth re¬ 
ferable thofe of fquirrels, and it has the fame method of 
elevating its tail, which is longer than the body, and ob- 
fcurely-annul'dted with numerous alternate brown and 
yellowifli bands, the tip itfelf being black. This animal 
meafures between feven and eight inches to the tail, 
.which is of equal length. 
/?. M. guerlingus minor, the fmall guerlinguet. This, 
which is luppofed to be a variety of the preceding, refem- 
bles it in almolt every particular except fize, meafuring 
only four inches and three lines from nofe to tail, which is 
but three inches and three lines in length. The colour of 
this kind is alfo lefs brown than the former, and has a caft 
of cinereous olive-colour on the upper parts. The guer- 
linguets are faid to be eafily tamed, and to produce two 
young at a birth, which they bring forth in the hollows 
of trees. 
MY’RA, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in Natolia, on a 
riyer of the fame name, which runs into the Mediterra¬ 
nean : fifty-four miles fouth-fouth-weft of Satalia, and 
thirty-fix miles eaft of Ekfenide. 
MYRCI'NUS, in ancient geography, a town of Thrace, 
placed by Herodotus and Thucydides on the banks of the 
Strymon ; Appian places it near Philippi; and Tzetzer 
fays, that it was anciently called Hedonus. 
MY'RE, a town of Afia Minor, in Lycia. 
MYREP'SUS (Nicholas), a phyfician, and one of the 
laft who wrote in Greek, was a native of Alexandria. 
He appears to have flourifhed in the thirteenth century, 
as his writings are quoted by other authors early in the 
fourteenth. The impurities of his flyle abundantly prove 
the decaying (late of the Greek as a living language. A 
difpenfatory, which he compofed, became very early the 
rule of pharmacy throughout Europe. In Paris, in 1332, 
all apothecaries were ordered by parliament to have a 
copy of his Antidotarium in their pofleflion. The Greek 
copies are numerous, in MS. in different libraries ; but 
the work has been printed only in Latin tranflations; the 
bell of which is that of the learned Leonart-Fuchs, enti¬ 
tled “ Opus medicamentorum in fe&iones quadraginta- 
ofto digeftum,” firft printed at Bade, in 1549, folio, and 
feveral times reprinted. This work of Myrepfus is a vaft 
farrago of the compofitions of the Greeks and Arabians, 
intermixed with much fuperliition, and full of obfcurities. 
Elcy Ditd. Hijl. 
MYR'IAD, j. [/!4tqna;, Gr.] The number cf ten thou- 
fand. Thou feed, brother, how many thoufands, or ra¬ 
ther how many myriads, that is, ten thoufands, of the Jews 
there are which believe. Pearfon on the Creed. —Proverbi¬ 
ally any great number.—Are there legions of devils who 
are continually defigning and working our ruins? there 
are alfo myriads of good angels who are more cheerful and 
officious to do us good. Tillotjon. 
Safe fits the goddefs in her dark retreat; 
Around her, myriads of ideas wait, 
And endlefs fhapes. Prior. 
MYRIAN'DRI, in ancient geography, a people of 
Syria, upon the banks of the river Amanus, according to 
Pomponius Mela. 
_ MYRIAN'DRICUS SIN'US, the fame with the Sinus 
J.Qtcup. 
MYRIAN'DRUS, a commercial town of Syria, erected 
apd inhabited by Phoenicians, fituated in the fouth-eufl 
part of the gulf called Ifficus. 
Vol. XVI. No. 1125. 
M Y R u\ 
MYRIAN'THUS, f [from the Gr. pvjiios, innumera¬ 
ble, and a»0o ? , a flower; alluding to the great number of 
male flowers.] In botany, a genus of the clafs monoecia, 
order monadelphia, natural order cucurbitaceas.— Effential 
Charatter. Male. Calyx in four deep concave fegments ; 
corolla none; filaments cylindrical, in three terminal feg¬ 
ments ; antherae three. Female. Berry inferior, pulpy, of 
twelve or fourteen cells ; feeds numerous, winged. 
Myrianthus arboreus, the only fpecies, is a native of 
the kingdom of Benin, in the tropical part of Africa. A 
tree as large as an apple-tree; with a white bark. Leaves 
alternate, (talked, fringed, refembling thofe of the liorfe- 
chefnut; the leaflets fix, oblong, toothed. , Flowers in 
a corymbofe panicle; the males very minute, white, in 
very dole fpikes, at the top of the divifions of the panicle. 
Fruit the fize of a large apple. Willdenow. 
MYR'IARCH, [from myriad.'] The captain or com¬ 
mander of ten thoufand men. James. 
MYRI'CA, /. [of Pliny; of Theophraftus and 
Diofcorides. Derivation merely conjectural, a,no rov y.v- 
geo-Sai, either becaufe it grows near ftreams, or becaufe it 
is fabled that the daughter of Cinyras was changed into 
this plant; this verb fignifying both to flow and to weep. 
It was put as a wreath round the heads of criminals, and 
the wood was accounted unfortunate. The ancient u.vptxr,, 
however, appears, by the imperfect defcription in Diof¬ 
corides, and elpecially by what he fays in the following 
chapter (of epetx.y being like it, but much fmaller), to be 
the tamariik, Tamarix gallica. This Pliny confirms, and 
all modern writers have fo underftood it; nor do we find, 
in the writings of Linnaeus, any reafon for his having firft 
applied this name to the genus before us, except that he 
preferred it to the Dutch word Gale, adopted by Tourne- 
fort.] In botany, a genus of the clafs dioecia,-order te- 
trandria, natural order of amentaceas. The Englith 
name is Candleberry Myrtle. Generic Characters— 
I. Male. Calyx: amentaceas ovate-oblong, imbricate on 
all fides, loofe, compoled of one-flowered, crefcent-fliaped, 
bluntly-acuminate, concave fcales ; perianthium proper, 
none. Corolla: none. Stamina: filaments four (feldom 
fix), filiform, ftiort, erect; antherge large, twin, with bifid 
lobes. II. Female. Calyx: as in the male. Corolla: 
none. Piftillum : germen fubovate ; ftyles two, filiform, 
longer than the calyx ; ltigmas Ample. Pericarpium : 
berry one-celled. Seed: Angle. — Effential Charatter. 
Amentaceas with a crefcent-fliaped lcale; corolla none. Fe¬ 
male ftyles two 5 berry one-feeded. There are nine fpecies. 
1. Myrica gale, fweet gale, l'weet willow, or candle- 
berry myrtle : leaves lanceolate, fubferrate; ftem fuft’ru- 
ticole. This riles with many (hrubby (talks from two to 
near four feet high, dividing into feveral (lender branches, 
and covered wdthadulky or rult-coloured bark, fprinkled 
with white dots. The buds are compofed of nine leafy 
(liining fcales; the firft nearly oppofite, very ftiort, retan 
gularly pointed ; the reft ovate, blunt. Leaves alternate, 
(tiff, an inch and a half long, and half an inch broad in 
the middle, light or yellowifli green, fmooth, a little fer¬ 
rate towards their points, and emitting a fragrant odour 
when bruifed : this is occafioned by the relinous points 
with which they were fprinkled : they are convoluted and 
petioled. The flowers appear before the leaves; and the 
flower-buds are above the leaf-buds, at the ends of the 
branches 5 whence, as foon as the fru&ification is com¬ 
pleted, the end of the branch dies, the leaf-buds which 
are on the fides (hoot out, and the Items become com¬ 
pound. The aments, or catkins, are of a fliort ovate 
figure, of a yeliowifli-brown colour, and frequently 
fprinkled with (liining relinous golden particles. The 
fruit is a coriaceous berry. The male and female aments 
are fometimes on diftimft plants, and (ometinies on the 
fame individual. Dr. Withering affirms, that he has 
found a few female florets upon the male catkins. Mr, 
John Templeton, of Orange Grove, near Belfaft, fays, 
that the moncecous plants may be diftinguilked by the 
form of the leaves being exactly lanceolate, the broadeft 
5 U part 
