Amphi´on, in Greek mythology, son of Zeus and Antiŏpē, and husband of Niŏbē. He had miraculous skill in music, being taught by Mercury, or, according to others, by Apollo. In poetic legend he is said to have availed himself of his skill when building the walls of Thebes—the stones moving and arranging themselves in proper position at the sound of his lyre. See Zethus.
Amphioxus. See Lancelet.
1. Shore-jumper (Orchestia littoralis), 2. Portion showing the respiratory organs a a a.
Amphip´oda, an order of sessile-eyed malacostracan crustaceans, with feet directed partly forward and partly backward. Many species are found in springs and rivulets, others in salt water. The sand-hopper and shore-jumper are examples.
Amphip´rostyle, in architecture, said of a structure having the form of an ancient Greek or Roman oblong rectangular temple, with a prostyle or portico on each of its ends or fronts, but with no columns on its sides or flanks.
Amphisbæ´na (Gr., from amphis, both ways, and bainein, to go), a genus of serpentiform, limbless, lacertilian reptiles; body cylindrical, destitute of scales, and divided into numerous annular segments; the tail obtuse, and scarcely to be distinguished from the head, whence the belief that it moved equally well with either end foremost. There are several species, found in tropical America. They feed on ants and earthworms, and were formerly, but erroneously, deemed poisonous. In Greek mythology the
amphisbæna was a serpent believed to possess two heads.
Amphis´cii (Gr. amphi, on both sides, and skia, shadow), a term sometimes applied to the inhabitants of the intertropical regions, whose shadows at noon in one part of the year are cast to the north and in the other to the south, according as the sun is in the southern or northern signs.
