a Grecian poet of antiquity, usually coupled with Bion; and they were both of them contemporaries with Theocritus. In the time of the latter Grecians, all the ancient Idylls were collected and attributed to Theocritus; but the claims of Moschus and Bion have been admitted to some few little pieces; and this is sufficient to make us inquisitive about their characters and story: yet all that can be known about them must be collected from their own remains. Moschus, by composing his delicate elegy on Bion, has given the best memorials of Bion's life. See BION. Moschus and Theocritus have by some critics been supposed the same person; but there are irrefragable evidences against it: others will have him as well as Bion to have lived later than Theocritus, upon the authority of Suidas: while others again suppose him to have been the scholar of Bion, and probably his successor in governing the poetic school; which, from the elegy of Moschus, does not seem unlikely. Their remains are to be found in all the editions of the Poetae Minoris.

in zoology; a genus of quadrupeds of the order of pecora, having no horns. There are eight small cutting teeth in the lower jaw; in the upper, no cutting or fore teeth; but two long tusks, one on each side, projecting out of the mouth.

1. The moschiferus, or Thibet musk, has a bag or tumour on the belly near the navel, and a very short tail almost hid in the fur. The length of the male is about three feet three inches from the nose to the origin of the tail, and about two feet three inches high at the shoulder; the female is less than the male, has a sharper nose, has no tusks nor musk-bag, and is provided with two teats. The head resembles that of the roe: the fur is coarse like that of the animals of the deer kind; but softer, very smooth, erect, plentiful, thick, and long: the colour varies according to the age of the animal and time of the year; but is chiefly blackish brown on the upper, and hoary, seldom white, on the under parts of the body; the hoofs are long, black, and much divided, and the spurious hoofs of the fore feet are very long: the scrotum is of a bright red colour, and the penis very small. It inhabits the Asiatic Alps, especially the highest rocky mountains from the Altai chain to that which divides Thibet from India; likewise in China and Tonquin, and in eastern Siberia about lake Baikal and the rivers Jenicha and Argun. It avoids mankind, dwelling solitarily in the most precipitous places of the mountains, among rocks in the small narrow valleys surrounded by the snowy hills, and the pine forests which grow in their interstices. It is a very gentle and timid animal, except in rutting time, when the males fight violently with their tusks for the females; it is exceedingly active in leaping, running, climbing, and swimming, and is very difficultly tamed; the flesh is eatable, and that of the younger animals is reckoned delicate. chace of them is a trade equally difficult and hazardous; if pursued, they seek the highest tops of the snowy peaks, inaccessible to men or dogs. They take amazing leaps over the tremendous chains of their alps, or from rock to rock; treading so lightly on the snow with their true and false hoofs extended, as scarcely to leave a mark; while the dogs which pursue them sink in, and are forced to desist from the chase. They are so fond of liberty as never to be kept alive in captivity. They are mostly taken in snares, or shot by crossbows placed in their tracks, with a string from the trigger for them to tread on, and discharge. The Tungus shoot them with bows and arrows. The skins are used for bonnets and winter dresses. The Russian often scrape off the hair, and have a way of preparing them for summer clothing, so as to become as soft and shining as silk. The noted drug the musk is produced from the male. The bag or follicle that contains it is situated near the prepuce; and is of a somewhat oval figure, flat on one side and rounded on the other, having a small open orifice. In young animals this bag is empty; but in adults it is filled with a clotted, oily, friable matter, of a dark brown colour: this is the true musk, of which each bag contains from a dram and a half to two drams. The best comes from Thibet; that which is produced in Siberia having somewhat of the flavour of castor.

2. The Americanus, or Brazilian musk, of a reddish brown colour, with a black muzzle and white throat, is scarcely so large as a roe-buck. The fur is soft and short; the colour of the head and upper part of the neck is dark brown; the lower part of the neck and throat are white; the body and limbs are reddish brown; the hind legs are longer than the fore. This animal, which inhabits Guiana and Brazil, is exceedingly timid, active, and swift. Numbers are frequently seen swimming the rivers, and at that time are easily taken. The Indians hunt them, and their flesh is esteemed very delicate. The French of Guiana call them biches or does, because, notwithstanding their likenesses to deer, both sexes are without horns. Gmelin supposes this animal may only be a tawn of the American roe.

3. The Indicus, or Indian musk, has short hair of a tawny colour on the upper and whitish on the under parts of the body; the tail is short, and the feet have spurious hoofs. It inhabits India, and is much of the same size with the moschiferus, but the tail is longer and more perceptible; the legs are very slender; and the head resembles that of a horse, with erect oblong ears.

4. The pigmæus, or pigmy musk, is marked as to colour like the former, but has no spurious hoofs.—The body and head measure only nine inches and a half in length; the tail is about an inch long; and the legs are smaller than a man's finger. It inhabits the East Indies and several of the Indian islands. It is called kantchel by the Malayes, and po-tjang by the inhabitants of Java. The natives catch them in great numbers, carry them in cages to market, and sell them for 2½ d. a piece.

5. The meminna, or Ceylon chevrotin, is in length 17 inches from the nose to the rump, and of a cinereous olive colour; the throat, breast, and belly, are white; the sides and haunches spotted, and barred transversely with white; and the ears are large and Meminna open: the tail is very short; and the feet have no spurious hoofs. It inhabits Ceylon and Java.

6. The javanicus, or Javan musk, is of a ferruginous colour on the upper parts of the body, and white all along the under; the tail is long and hairy, white below and at the tip; its legs are similar to those of the pigmy musk, and furnished with very small spurious hoofs. This and the meminna seem only varieties of the pigmæus.