Cyclops

(si'klõps.) (Myth.) A fabulous race of giants, having only one eye, and that placed in the centre of the forehead. Their vocation, according to Hesiod,was the forging of thunderbolts for Jupiter in the forges beneath Mount Etna, under the superintendence of Vulcan; while Homer describes them as a lawle and cannibal race of giants who dwelt in Sicily. The most famous of them was Polyp hem us, whose combat with Ody eus (Uly es) is narrated in the Ody ey. The C. were destroyed by Apollo. -(Zool.) A gen. of minute crustaceans, so called from having but one eye, and belonging to the O. Entomostraca. They have 8 or 10 legs, and the abdomen is terminated by a bifid tail adapted for swimming. Some species belong to fresh water, while others are marine. [s. 257]