Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/221

LEFT MEaALOSAUBUS 179 MEGATHERIUM were those of a gigantic carnivore at least five feet in height. Cuvier was the first to recognize Megalonyx as an edentate. MEGALOSAUBUS (-sa'rus), a gigan- tic Oolitic reptile of the Deinosauria (Orthoscelida, Huxley), occurring also in the Weald Clay. Its length has been variously estimated from 40 to 50 feet. Owen says that some of the remains "in- dicate a reptile of at least 30 feet in length." As the cylindrical bones contain medullary cavities, it is clear that Megal- osaurus was terrestrial. That it was carnivorous is evidenced by the teeth. New Hebrides, the N. portion of Aus- tralia, in New Guinea and the neighbor- ing islands, in the Celebes, the Pelew islands, the Ladrones, the Philippines, La- buan, and the Nicobars. They are about the size of small fowls, the head gener- ally crested, the tail very short, feet enormously developed, and, with the ex- ception of Megapodius wallacU, from the Mollucas, have somber plumage. MEGAPTERA (-gap'tur-a), the hump- backed whale. M. longhnana is the long-finned whale, found in the At- lantic area, as far as Davis' Straits; M. lalandii is the Cape humpback, from the SKELETON OP MEGALOSAURUS The oldest known beds from which any remains of Megalosaurus have been ob- tained are at the Lower Oolites at Selsby Hill and Chipping Norton, Gloucester- shire, England. MEGALOTIS (-6'tis), a genus of Candidas, differing from other members of the family in its dental formula, which approximates to that of the Civets. It contains but a single species, M. lakmdii, the long-eared fox. MEGAPHONE, an instrument invented by Thomas A. Edison for carrying the sovind of the voice long distances without the aid of wires. MEGAPODIUS (-po'di-us), mound- bird; the typical genus of the family Megapodidse ; often referred to the Cra- cidse. Authorities vary greatly as to the number of species. They are found in the Samoa Islands, the Tonga group, the South Atlantic; M. novx zelandisB is from the South Pacific; and M. kuzira, the Japanese humpback, ranges to the Aleutian and Californian coasts. They 3rield little oil or baleen. An adult aver- ages 50 feet in length. MEGARIS (meg'a-ris), in ancient geography, a small mountainous region of Hellas, or Greece proper, lying be- tween Attica and the Isthmus of Co- rinth. The people were excellent sailors, and founded several colonies, of which the most famous were Byzantium (667 B. c), Chalcedon, and Megara (Hyblsea) in Sicily. The capital was Megara, long an important commercial city, and fa- mous for its white shell marble, and for a white kind of clay, of which pottery was made. MEGATHERIUM (-ther'i-um), a genus of extinct edentates, family Mega- theriidae, founded on a nearly complete