Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/230

MUSKRAT. 192 MUSSEL. ■with little swamp, the burrow in the bank is the more usual shelter. The houses are always entered from water deep enoufjli so that the 5)assagewav shall not freeze up in winter. The llcsh of the muskrat is j;ood eatmji.and was formerly mueh used by the Indians. The fur is used quite extensiyely, so that the skins are an artiele of commcree. For this reason, muskrats are etensiyely trapped and hundreds of thou- sands are killed annually. Their numbers never- theless do not decrease, partly because their nat- ural enemies are fewer. l>ut chiclly because of the fact that the making of slackwater spaces by damming rivers, and the digging of canals ("whose banks they seriously damage), have greatly extended vaters suitable for them in various parts of the country. Trapping is done, chiellv in the ^vinter, by setting small steel traps at the entrance to their houses or burrows or in runways where they come ashore. Thename muskrat is applied to a number of other more or less rat-like animals, on account of their strong odor. In Europe it is frefpiently given to the desman (q.v.), while in India it is associated with a shrew {frocidura ca'rtilca) which has well-developed musk glands on the belly and flanks. In South Africa the genet (Geiictia fclhia), a viverrine, carnivorous mam- • mal, is sometimes so called. Consult the yorks of Audubon, Richardson, Godinan. Kennieott. and other early ^vrlters•, ami of C. C. Abbott, H. D. Thoreau, J. Burroughs, D. L. Sharp. R. Robinson, A. L. Adams, V. Cram, J. A. Allen. E. S. Mearns, and other recent nat- uralists; especially :Merriam. .)/fi.mw-//.s- of the Adiromlnclcs (Xew York, IS'J.t) ; Ilerrick, 1/am- mols of Minnesota CMinneapolis, 18!)2) ; Butler, "Observations on the iluskral," in .l»icric«)i .Anf- ■uralht. vol. XV. (Philadelphia, 188.5) : f'rf " »"^1 Stone. Amciirrni Animiils (Xew ork. 1.)0l). Sec rlatc of liE.WT.R, COYPU, AND lilUSKU.VT. MUSK SHEEP. A musk ox (q.v.). MUSK SHREW. One of a large group of Old World sbie»>^. of which about eighty species of the genus Crocidura are known. They are noted for Their muskv odor, range from the Mediter- ranean to Norliiern India, and are of terrestrial habits One of these shrews (Crocidura carulca) is the largest of its race (see SniiEW), and as large as a rat. It is gray, and is known to An"lo-Indians as the 'muskrat.' It enters houses ancFat night runs about, catching insect vermin: but counterbalances this bencricial service by leaving behind a musky odor, sometimes unpleas- antly strong. MUSK TORTOISE, MisK Tirti.e, or Stink- pot One of llie mud or 'Imx' turtles iCinostcr- num odwatum) of the eastern half of the Vnited States, well known for its strong, musky odor, which exudes from plamls in the arm-pits. It has a disproportionately large head, a long and slender neck, with two yellow stripes on each side, and a dusky shell, clouded and some- times spollcil. It is eilible. MUSKWAKI, musk-wU'k*. An Algonquian tribe. Sii. Fox. MUSLIN (Fr. »iot(.9.<!p/iiie, from It. mussoUno, muslin, made of muslin, from mtissoln. niiislin from ML. Mossiihi. from Syr. Mosul, a city of .Afesopotamia on the Tigris, whence the fabric originally came). A cotton fabric of Oriental origin. No such trade now exists in the Orient; and for muslins of the common kinds at least the Indian market depends upon the manufactures of England and France, iluslin is much less compact in its texture than calico — indeed, it niorc nearly resembles gauze in appearance ; but it is woven plain, without any twisting of the filling threads with those of the warp. The mamifac- ture of muslins is very extensive, especially printed muslins, in which the patterns are pro duced by the same processes as in ealico-]iriiitiiig. The terin muslin is also applied to a coarser and heavier, but jilainly woven cotton cloth, suitable for slicets and pillow-cases. See We.wing. MUS'PRATT, James Sheridan (18-21-71). An emim-nt Irish chemist. He studied under Liebig. at Giessen, 184.'5-45, and there took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a thesis tracing the resemblance betveen the carbonates and suliihitcs. In 1847 he produced a numl>er of interesting organic substances from the sulpbo- cvanates of ethyl and methyl. On his return to England in 1848 he established and became super- intendent of a college of chemistry at Liveriiool. From 1S.')4 to 18(iO he was engaged on his well- known dictionary of chemistry. The latest Ger- man edition of" this important work m.ay be found mentioned in the bibliographic section of the article Chemistry. His Outlines of Quanti- tative Analtisis for Students has had a consider- able circulation. MUS'QUASH. The name among the Indians of the ( niKidian N(uthwest for the muskrat (q.v.). 'Talking musquash' is a phrase in the Hudson Bav region for the gossip of trappers or fur tradersalioiit peltries, of which the fur of the muskrat forms a constant and important item. MUSSAFIA, nu.is-sil'fe-a, Adolf (1835—). An .u-tiinii Koinance |)hilologist. born at Spa- lato. He studied medicine, but in 1S,')5 Ix'canie instructor of Italian at the University of Vienna, and in ISUO piofes.sor of Romance philology". Ho contributed valual>le pai)ers on Italian dialects to the ])roceedings of the Vienna .Vcademy . and wrote : Altfrantijsifiehn (lediehlc aus renexianischen Hand- schriflen (18(;4); an edition of Fra Pacdino's ne Uefiimine pectoris (18GS); Ilandschriftlwhe t<tudien (1802-70) ; Uebcr die spanischc Version der Uistoria Troiana (1871); Die catnlnmsche Version der siehen weisen Meister (1870): and studies of the legends of the Madonna (1884-91). MUSSEL (.S. mtixle. mucxie. from Lat. mus- culus, small fish, sea-mussel, diminutive of nius, mouse). The word mussel is one of those pop- ular names of such uncertain limits that to at- tempt to define it is a dilhcult matter. At the present time it is applied to two totally distinct groups of biyalved inollusks, one marine ami the other fresh-water. The first group includes the shellfish of the family :Mylilidn'. especially the genera :Iytilus. Modiola. and Modiolaria. This family is 'characterized by the presence of a well- deveU'iped byssus, two adductor muscles, a fringed vestige of a siphon, and an equivalve but ^inequilateral shell, with a thick epidermis, but with a weak and usually toothless hinge. The 'common' mussel IMiiHlus edulis) of all north- ern coasts is in the Old World much raised for food, but its greatest importance in the T'nited States lies in its usefulness as bait for fisher- men and as manure for farmers near the coast. I