LYONS, GULF OF Brotteaux, La Croix-Rousse, etc.; several fine squares, of which the Place Bellecour is one of the largest in Europe. The fortifications extend in a circle of 13 miles round the city. Lyons, the ancient Lugdunum, was founded about 42 years before the Christian era, and suffered greatly during the Revolution from the conflicts of hostile parties. It is the birthplace of Germanicus, the emperors Claudius, M. Aurelius, and Caracalla; of Jussieu, Jacquard, and Camille Jourdan. Pop. about 525,000. LYONS, GULF OF, a bay of the Medi- terranean, on the S. E. coast of France; principal ports Toulon, Marseilles, and Cette. LYRA, in anatomy, a triangular por- tion of the corpus callosian, marked with transverse longitudinal and oblique lines. In astronomy, the Lyre or Harp, one of the 20 ancient northern constellations. It is situated to the S. E. of the head of Draco, having Hercules on the W. and S. and Cygnus on the E. Though a small constellation, it contains the large star Vega, with nearly 20 others visible to the naked eye, and, according to Bode, 166 in all, including telescopic stars. In zoology, a subgenus of Brachiopoda, genus Tet-abyntella. LYRE, one of the most ancient stringed instruments. The word lyre (lyra) does not occur in Homer; he speaks only of the citharis and phorminx. The distinction between a citharis (or guitar) and a lyre is that the neck of 46 LYRE BIRD of the primitive lyre, with three strings, is ascribed to the fii*st Egyptian Hermes. LYRE BIRD, Memira superba (or novse hollandise), an insectivorous Aus- tralian bird, placed by Professor Huxley in his Coracomorphae. Habitat New South Wales, the S. part of Queensland, LYRES the former runs behind the upper part of the strings, while the strings of the latter are free on both sides. Its inven- tion is ascribed to the Grecian Hermes (in Latin Mercury), who, according to Homer's story, gave it to Apollo, the first that played on it with method and ac- companied it with poetry. The invention LYRE BIRD and perhaps some parts of the colony of Victoria. The lyre bird is not so large as a hen-pheasant; plumage, sooty- brown, relieved by rufous on chin, throat, some of the wing-feathers, and the tail- coverts. The 16 rectrices are developed in the male in the extraordinary fashion that gives the bird its English name. The two exterior have the outer web very narrow, and the inner very broad, and they curve at first outward, then somewhat inward, and near the tip out- ward again, bending round so as to pre- sent a lyre-like form. The middle pair of feathers have the outer web broad and the inner web very narrow; they cross near their base, and then diverge, bend- ing round forward near the tip. The remaining 12 feathers are thinly fur- nished with barbs and present a hair- like appearance.
