Lyra

(li’rii), n. [NL., lyre, also a constellation so called: see lyre1.] ’ 1. An ancient northern constellation, representing the lyre of Hermes or of Orpheus. Also ealledthe Harp. The brightest star of this constellation is Vega (a Lyre). It is the seventh in order of brightne in the heavens and the third brightest in the northern hemisphere, being half a magnitude brighter than a standard star of the first magnitude. It forms,with two small stars near it, an equilateral triangle, one of the most striking configurations of the summer sky. Vega, Arcturus, and Polar is form a large triangle, nearly right-angled at Vega. 2. [l. ¢;3 pl. lyre (-6).] In an at., a tract of the The Constellation Lyra. brain beneath the corpus callosum, on the under surface and between the divergent posterior pillars of the fornix. There the fibers are so arranged as to present certain longitudinal and transverse lines, fancifully likened to the strings of alyre. The lyra is merely the appearance or formation of a surface, not a distinct part of the fornix. Tt is also known as the psalterium or corpus psalloides. 3. In zodl.: (a) A genus of fishes. Will ugh by, 1686. (b) A genus of brachiopods. Cwmberland, 1816.—4, [l. ¢.] See lira?.