[1] The presence or absence of the corpus callosum has been much disputed; the latest researches, however, indicate its absence.
MARSUPIAL MOLE (_Noloryctes typhlops_), the "Ur-quamata" of the natives, an aberrant polyprotodont from central South Australia, constituting a family (_Noloryctidae_). This is a small burrowing animal, of a pale golden-yellow colour, with long silky hair, a horny shield on the nose, and a stumpy leathery tail. The feet are five-toed, and the third and fourth toes of the front pair armed with enormous claws adapted for digging. Neither ear-conches nor eyes are visible externally. There are but three pairs of incisor teeth in each jaw, and the upper molars are tricuspid. This animal spends most of its time burrowing in the sand in search of insects and their larvae, but occasionally makes its appearance on the surface.
[Illustration: Marsupial Mole (_Notoryctes typhlops_).]
MARSUS, DOMITIUS, Latin poet, the friend of Virgil and Tibullus, and contemporary of Horace. He survived Tibullus (d. 19 B.C.), but was no longer alive when Ovid wrote (c. A.D. 12) the epistle from Pontus (_Ex Ponto_, iv. 16) containing a list of poets. He was the author of a collection of epigrams called _Cicuta_ ("hemlock")[1] from their bitter sarcasm, and of a beautiful epitaph on the death of Tibullus; of elegiac poems, probably of an erotic character; of an epic poem _Amazonis_; and of a prose work on wit (_De urbanitate_). Martial often alludes to Marsus as one of his predecessors, but he is never mentioned by Horace, although a passage in the _Odes_ (iv. 4, 19) is supposed to be an indirect allusion to the _Amazonis_ (M. Haupt, _Opuscula_, iii. 332).
See J. A. Weichert, _Poetarum latinorum vitae et reliquiae_ (1830); R. Unger, _De Dom. Marsi cicuta_ (Friedland, 1861).
[1] According to others, a reed-pipe made of the stalks of hemlock; the reading _scutica_ ("whip") has also been proposed.
MARSYAS, in Greek mythology, a Phrygian god or Silenus, son of Hyagnis. He was originally the god of the small river of the same name near Celaenae, an old Phrygian town. He represents the art of playing the flute as opposed to the lyre--the one the accompaniment of the worship of Cybele, the other that of the worship of Apollo. According to the legend, Athena, who had invented the flute, threw it away in disgust, because it distorted the features. Marsyas found it, and having acquired great skill in playing it, challenged Apollo to a contest with his lyre. Midas, king of Phrygia, who had been appointed judge, declared in favour of Marsyas, and Apollo punished Midas by changing his ears into ass's ears. In another version, the Muses were judges and awarded the victory to Apollo, who tied Marsyas to a tree and flayed him alive. Marsyas, as well as Midas and Silenus, are associated in legend with Dionysus and belong to the cycle of legends of Cybele. A statue of Marsyas was set up in the Roman forum and colonies as a symbol of liberty. The contest and punishment of Marsyas were favourite subjects in Greek art, both painting and sculpture. In Florence there are several statues of Marsyas hanging on the tree as he is going to be flayed (see GREEK ART, fig. 54, Pl. II.); Apollo and the executioner complete the group. In the Lateran museum at Rome there is a statue representing Marsyas in the act of picking up the flute, a copy of a masterpiece by Myron (Hyginus, _Fab._ 167, 191; Apollodorus i. 4, 2; Ovid, _Metam._ vi. 382-400, xi. 145-193), for which see GREEK ART, fig. 64 (Pl. III.).