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MALACOSTRACA, in natural hidory, a term ufed by Tome, as Ariftotle, to diftinguifh what we call crudaceous animals of the fea, CSV. from thofe which he calls oftracodermata, or teftaceous, as we exprefs it. See table of teftaceous and cru- ftaceous animals.
Ariftotle fays, that cruftaceous animals, or Malacoflraca, are foft within, and hard without; but that though their covering is not apt to be parted by contufions, yet the one part of it taay eafily be torn from the other; and the teftaceous ani- mals, or oftracodermata, are foft within, and hard without; and their covering may be bruifed or broken to pieces, though its parts are not liable to be torn from each other. Thefe definitions have been ufually acquiefced in, but being in real- lity infufficient for the diftinctions they are intended to make, they have been the origin of great condition and error. The conferences which Ariftotle puts into his definition or cha- radteridics, neceffarily arife from doctrines founded on facts; for when the fhell is but one, as is the cafe in all the tefta- ceous kind, it may be bruifed, or it may be broken, accord- ing as it is more or lefs brittle, but it cannot be torn afun- der; whereas in the whole cruftaceous kind, the coverings which are over every feveral part, as the legs, back, belly, and tail in lobfters, are joined to each other only by mem- branes, which though tough may be torn afundcr, though the body of the cruft in any part is too firm to be fo torn. The naturalifts of late ages have been much diftrefled about a place for the echini marini, or fea urchins, in their cabinets and books, fome calling them teftaceous, and others cruftace- ous animals.
It is very evident, however, according to Ariftotle's didinc- tions, that the echini are of the clafs of thefe malacoftraca, or cruftaceous animals, for they move upon their fpines, which demonftrates that their covering is moved by parts, and fo put together, that it may be torn afunder, as the legs of a iubfter may from the body; and indeed every fpine is ri- veted^ into its proper cruft, which alfo by confequence mult have its peculiar muf'cle which guides the motion of the fpine, by means of which the animal moves itfelf about any way that it pleafes; it being peculiar to thefe animals, that they move by rolling about upon their fpines, not by walking upon them, as the other animals do on their legs, the purpofes of which thefe fpines feem formed by nature to anfwer. Phil. Trahf. N° 219. p. 195.
It is evident alfo, even to ocular infpection, that all the crufts of the echini are united by membranes, as they are in the crabs and lobfters. Aguftino Scilla has accurately figured the internal parts of feveral fpecies of thefe animals in his book of petrifactions, and thefe draughts of his put the matter out of all doubt, as they exactly agree with nature, and are of the nature of the joinings of the lobfter kind. The fifh of the echinus kind are by thefe proved to be cruftaceous animals in the ftricteft fenfe of the term.
MALAGMA, a word ufed by fome authors to exprefs a cata- plafm in general, of whatever nature, or made of whatever ingredients; but fome have ufed it only for the emollient ca- taplafms.
Galen never ufes it in any fenfe but the laft; it was a form of medicine meant only for external ufe, and was not very dif- ferent in its confidence from a plafter. It feems to have con- fided only of emollient ingredients at fitft, but afterwards to have been compofed of aftringents, or of medicines of any other kind, whofe virtues could be conveyed under that form'; gums, aromatics, falts, and other ftimulating ingredients, of- ten made a part of the compofition; and fometimes a fmall quantity of oil, lard, or wax, entered the mafs; very often the malagma's confifted only of gums diffolved in wine or vinegar, and fometimes only of refins, which naturally hard- ened of themfelvcs after being reduced to powder, and mixed with wine and vinegar to a proper confiftence for applying to the part.
MALANKUA, in the materia medica, the name by which fome authors have called the plant whofe root is the round zedoary.
Many indeed efteem the long and round zedoary the roots of different plants, but they feem rather to be only the different parts of the roots of the fame fpecies. Hort. Mai. 11, 17. Dale's Pharmac. p. 251.
MALARMAT, in ichthyology, a name given by authors to the fifh called by fome lyra atera and eornuta. It is a fpecies of the trigla, and is diftinguifhed by Artedi by the name of the tngla, with many cirri, and with an octagonal body.
MALARUM OJJa, in anatomy, are the cheek bones; they make the prominent upper part of the cheeks mod. remarka- ble in Jean perfons : They form likewife a portion of the or- bit, and compleat the zygomatic arches. They have their name from the Latin mala, the cheek; they are two in num- ber, and are fituated in the lateral and middle parts of the face. 1 hey are, in fome meafure, triangular or irregularly fquare' and are divided into two fides, the external gently convex' the internal unequally concave.
The eminences in each bone are the fuperior or angular or- bitary apophyfis, which joins by future with the external an- gular apophyfis of the os frontis, and aflids in forming the ex- ternal angle of the orbit : from this apophyfis another fub-
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altera procefs runs inward on the infide of the bone, otja fide of which forms a portion of the orbit, the other a portion of the zygomatic folia : The inferior or maxillary orbitary apophyfis, which with the angular apophyfis forms the infe- rior external portion oi the orbit: The apophyfis malaris, which is in fome meafure the bafts of the reft, and together with the apophyfis maxillaris, joins the orbitary apophyfis of the os maxillare, and the zygomatic apophyfis, which makes a part of the zygoma, and alfo of the zygomatic fofla. The cavities are the great orbitary (lope, which makes the infe- rior external portion of the edge of the orbit; the zygomatic notch above the zygoma, and one or more little holes on the outfide, and in the orbitary apophyfis. Each bone is compo- fed of two pretty compact tables, with a fmall quantity of diploe between them, except in the anterior part of the apo- phyfis malaris. The os mate on each fide is joined to the os frontis by the angular apophyfis; to the os fphcenoides by the fubaltern apophyfis; to the os temporis by the zygomatic apophyfis; and to the os maxillare by its bafis. Win/lmSs Anatomy, p. 34.
MALKARABitLA, in zoology, the name of an Eaft Indian fpecies of ferpent found in the ifland of Ceylon. It is remark- ably variegated with white and duiky-brown, in various fi- gures. Ray's Syn. Anim. p. 332.
MALL, or Sm-Mali, in zoology, the Englifh name of a bird of the gull or larus kind, and diftinguifhed by authors by the name of larus einereus minor. It is very like the larus einereus major, or herring gull, but much fmaller, not weigh- ing above a pound. Its head and neck are grey, with fome brown fpots; the lower part of the neck is white, the back is grey, and the bread and belly white as fnow; the tail is alfo perfectly white, and is not forked. Ray's Ornitholog. p. 263.
MALLEOLUS, in ichthyology, a name given by G»za and fome others, to the fifh called by Ariftotle and die other old writers, fphynsna, and by the Italians luzzo marine. It is a beautiful filh, and feems to belong to the icombri, or mackrel kind. Salvian has figured it under the name of Judis, a name by which it is alfo called ' by Varro and fome other old authors, but Salviari's figure is very imperfect; he has omitted the back fin.
Malleoli, among the Romans, bundles of any combufti- ble matter befmeared with pitch, and ufed by the Roman foldiers either for giving light in the night-time, or for fetting fire to fome of the enemies works.
The Malleoli were fometimes fixed to a dart or javelin, that they might be furc to catch firm hold, and communicate the fire wherever they happened to light. Pitifi. in voc.
MALLEUM Movent, in anatomy, a name given by Fabricius to one of the mufcles of the ear, called by Cowper the inter- nus auris, and by^ Albinus, who had couudered its proper ufe, ten/or lympani. See Tensor.
MALLEUS (Cycl.) — The malleus, or hammer of the ear, is a long bone with a large head, a fmall neck, a handle, and two apophyfes, the one in the neck, the other in the handle. The top of the head is considerably rounded, and from thence it contracts all the way to the neck; both head and neck are in an inclined fituation, and the eminences and cavities in it anfwer to thofe in the body of the incus. The handle is looked on by fome as one of the apophyfes of the Malleus, and in that cafe it is the greated of the three. It forms an angle with the neck and head, near which it is fomething broad and flat, and decreafes gradually toward its extremity. The apophyfis of the handle, termed by others the fmall or ihort apophyfis of the Malleus, terminates the angle already mentioned, being extended toward the neck, and Iyin» in a ftrait line with that fide or border of the handle which lies next it. The apophyfis of the neck, called alfo the apophyfis gracilis, is in a natural ftate very long, but fo (lender withal, that it is very eafily broken, efpecially when dry, which is the reafon why the true length of it was for a long time un- known. It arifes from the neck, and fometimes appears much longer than it really is, by the addition of a fmall dried ten- don flicking to it. When the Malleus is in its true fituation, the head and neck are turned upwards and inwards, the han- dle downwards, parallel to the long leg of the incus, but more forward; the apophyfis of the handle upwards and out- ward, near the fuperior portion of the edge of the tympanum, near the center of which is the extremity of the handle; and the apophyfis gracilis forward, reaching all the way to the articular fiffure in the os temporis. By the knowledge of this, the Malleus of the right ear may be known from 1 that of the left when out of their places. Pfinllmu's Aflat, p 4.0
MALLOW, in botany. See the article Malva.
MALMIGNATTO, in natural hiftory, a name given by the inhabitants of the ifland of Corfica to a fpecies of animal, or large infect, called by fome tarantula, and ignorantly fuppofed to be the fame with the tarantula of Apulia. This ifland pro- duces neither wolves, ferpents, nor many other of the mif- chievous and defiructive animals which infed the neighbour- ing countries, but it produces two fpecies of this venomous infefl, called the Malmignatto; the one of thefe has a round body, and the other an oblong one, refembling that of our large kind of ant; it has alio fix legs, not eight, and never makes any web. Prom all which it appears not to be a fpider,
but
