Mediterranean fruit fly. A two-winged fly (Ceratitis capitata) with black and white markings, native of the Mediterranean countries, but now widely distributed. Its larva lives in ripening oranges, peaches, and other fruits, causing them to decay and fall.
{ Me*dji"di*e, Me*dji"di*eh } (?), n. [Turk. majdieh (prop. fem. a., fr. Ar. mejd glorious); -- so called after the sultan Abdul Mejid, lit., "servant of the Glorious One," i.e., of God.] 1. (a) A silver coin of Turkey formerly rated at twenty, but since 1880 at nineteen, piasters (about 83 cents). (b) A gold coin of Turkey equal to one hundred piastres ($4.396 or 18s. ¾d.); a lira, or Turkish pound.
2. A Turkish honorary order established in 1851 by Abdul-Mejid, having as its badge a medallion surrounded by seven silver rays and crescents. It is often conferred on foreigners.
{ ||Meg`a*lo*ce*pha"li*a (?), Meg`a*lo*ceph"a*ly (?) }, n. [NL. megalocephalia, fr. Gr. &?; having a large head.] (Med.) The condition of having an abnormally large head. -- Meg`a*lo*ce*phal"ic (#), a.
{ Meg`a*scop"ic (?), Meg`a*scop"ic*al (?) }, a. 1. (Physics) Of or pertaining to the megascope or the projection upon a screen of images of opaque objects. (b) Enlarged or magnified; -- said of images or of photographic pictures, etc.
2. (Geol.) Large enough to be seen; -- said of the larger structural features and components of rocks which do not require the use of the microscope to be perceived. Opposed to microscopic.
Mel`an*co`ni*a"ce*æ (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Bot.) A family of fungi constituting the order Melanconiales. -- Mel`an*co`ni*a"ceous (#), a.
Mel`an*co`ni*a"les (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Melanconium, name of the typical genus, fr. Gr. &?; black + &?; dust, in allusion to the dark spores.] (Bot.) The smallest of the three orders of Fungi Imperfecti, including those with no asci nor pycnidia, but as a rule having the spores in cavities without special walls. They cause many of the plant diseases known as anthracnose.
Mel"a*nism (?), n. (Ethnol.) The character of having a high degree of pigmentation, as shown in dark skin, eyes, and hair.
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||Mel`a*no"ma (?), n.; L. pl. - nomata (#). [NL.; Gr. &?;, &?;, black + -oma.] (Med.) (a) A tumor containing dark pigment. (b) Development of dark-pigmented tumors.
Meld (?), v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Melded; p. pr. & vb. n. Melding.] [G. melden to announce.] (Card Playing) In the game of pinochle, to declare or announce for a score; as, to meld a sequence.
Meld, n. (Card Playing) Any combination or score which may be declared, or melded, in pinochle.
||Mê`lée" (?), n. A cavalry exercise in which two groups of riders try to cut paper plumes off the helmets of their opponents, the contest continuing until no member of one group retains his plume; -- sometimes called Balaklava mêlée.
Mé"lin*ite (?), n. [F.] (Chem.) A high explosive similar to lyddite, consisting principally of picric acid, used in the French military service.
Me*lun"geon (?), n. [Cf. F. mélanger to mix, mélange a mixture.] One of a mixed white and Indian people living in parts of Tennessee and the Carolinas. They are descendants of early intermixtures of white settlers with natives. In North Carolina the Croatan Indians, regarded as descended from Raleigh's lost colony of Croatan, formerly classed with negroes, are now legally recognized as distinct.
||Me*men"to mo"ri (?). [L.] Lit., remember to die, i.e., that you must die; a warning to be prepared for death; an object, as a death's-head or a personal ornament, usually emblematic, used as a reminder of death.
Me*mo"ri*al Day. A day, May 30, appointed for commemorating, by decorating their graves with flowers, by patriotic exercises, etc., the dead soldiers and sailors who served the Civil War (1861-65) in the United States; Decoration Day. It is a legal holiday in most of the States. In the Southern States, the Confederate Memorial Day is: May 30 in Virginia; April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in North Carolina and South Carolina; the second Friday in May in Tennessee; June 3 in Louisiana. [U. S.]
Memorial rose. A Japanese evergreen rose (Rosa wichuraiana) with creeping branches, shining leaves, and single white flowers. It is often planted in cemeteries.
||Mem"-sa`hib (?), n. [Hind. mem- shib; mem (fr. E. ma'am) + Ar. çhib master. See Sahib.] Lady; mistress; -- used by Hindustani-speaking natives in India in addressing European women.
Men*de"li*an (?), a. [See Mendel's law.] (Biol.) Pert. to Mendel, or to Mendel's law. -- Men*de"li*an*ism (#), Men*del"ism (#), n.
Mendelian character. (Biol.) A character which obeys Mendel's law in regard to its hereditary transmission.
Men"del's law (?). A principle governing the inheritance of many characters in animals and plants, discovered by Gregor J. Mendel (Austrian Augustinian abbot, 1822-84) in breeding experiments with peas. He showed that the height, color, and other characters depend on the presence of determinating factors behaving as units. In any given germ cell each of these is either present or absent. The following example (using letters as symbols of the determining factors and hence also of the individuals possessing them) shows the operation of the law: Tallness being due to a factor T, a tall plant, arising by the union in fertilization of two germ cells both bearing this factor, is TT; a dwarf, being without T, is tt. Crossing these, crossbreeds, Tt, result (called generation F1). In the formation of the germ cells of these crossbreeds a process of segregation occurs such that germ cells, whether male or female, are produced of two kinds, T and t, in equal numbers. The T cells bear the factor "tallness," the t cells are devoid of it. The offspring, generation F2, which arise from the chance union of these germ cells in pairs, according to the law of probability, are therefore on an average in the following proportions: