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elated genera, of the family Mytidæ. The common mussel (Mytilus edulis; see Illust. under Byssus), and the larger, or horse, mussel (Modiola modiolus), inhabiting the shores both of Europe and America, are edible. The former is extensively used as food in Europe.

lued for its odor and for its medicinal properties. It exuds from the bark of a shrub of Abyssinia and Arabia, the Balsamodendron Myrrha. The myrrh of the Bible is supposed to have been partly the gum above named, and partly the exudation of species of Cistus, or rockrose. False myrrh. See the Note under Bdellium.…

A genus of marine bivalve shells, including the common mussel. See Illust. under Byssus.

Lowest; as, the nethermost abyss. Milton.

ed of cedar overlaid with gold. Milton. And overlay With this portentous bridge the dark abyss. Milton.

plant (Cyperus Papyrus) of the Sedge family, formerly growing in Egypt, and now found in Abyssinia, Syria, Sicily, etc. The stem is triangular and about an inch thick.

Any species of Pinna, a genus of large bivalve mollusks found in all warm seas. The byssus consists of a large number of long, silky fibers, which have been used in manufacturing woven fabrics, as a curiosity.

Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades. Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained. Milton. He keepth back his soul from the pit. Job xxxiii. 18.

they brought the work by wondrous art Pontifical, a ridge of pendent rock Over the vexed abyss. Milton.

An abyss. Milton.

A tropical African asteraceous shrub (Guizotia abyssinica) cultivated for its seeds (called ramtil, or niger, seeds) which yield a valuable oil used for food and as an illuminant.

figure refers to a footnote. Of those places that refer to the shutting and opening the abyss, I take notice of that in Job. Bp. Burnet.

The Abyssinian ox (Bos or Bibos, Africanus), noted for the great length of its horns. It has a hump on its back.

Having fat buttocks. Specimens of the steatopygous Abyssinian breed. Burton.

To draw into an abyss or gulf; to ingulf; to absorb -- usually followed by up. Milton. The earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses. Num. xvi. 32.

The seed of an African asteraceous plant (Guizotia abyssinica), yielding a bland fixed oil used in medicine.

That which is wide; wide space; width; extent. "The waste wide of that abyss." Tennyson.

A large noxious fly of Abyssinia, which like the tsetse fly, is destructive to cattle.

A large, venomous, two-winged fly, native of Abyssinia. It is allied to the tsetse fly, and, like the latter, is destructive to cattle.

Circuit; circumference. [R.] Milton. Abyssal zone. (Phys. Geog.) See under Abyssal. -- Zone axis (Crystallog.), a straight line passing through the center of a crystal, to which all the planes of a given zone are parallel.