Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/258

MEAGHER. Heights. He resigned temporarily, but was re- coiiiiiiissioia'd in ISO-l. and for some time was in command of the District of Etowah. He was appointed secretary of Montana Territory in lSti.5, and for several months in ISCiO, during the absence of Governor Edgerton, served as Gov- ernor pro tern. On July 1, 187, lie fell from the deck of a steamer, at Fort Benton, on the upper Alissouri, and was drowned. He published Speeches on the Legislative Independence of Ire- land (1852) and Last Days of the Sixty-ninth Xcw York Regiment in Viryinia.

MEAGRE, or MAIGRE (OF., Fr. maigre, lian. from Lat. mavvr, lean; connected with Gk. lULKfAs, muLroK, long). An.v of several European drunifish of the world-wide genus Seiiena. The typical meagre is Sviwna mjuilti, which ranges from Great Britain to the ccjasts of the In- dian Ocean, but is best known about the Medi- terranean Sea, W'here it has been v<'rv highly esteemed since the days of anticiuity. It reaches a length of six feet, but ordinary S|)cci- niens are about luilf that. The color is brownish gray on the back, with silver}' gray sides and a white abdomen. It has always been highly valued, esiiecially by the Italians, but to English palates the llesh seems rallier dry and tasteless. A closely related species is the inubrine (Scicvna umbrina), also one of the favorite food fishes of the Mediterranean, and occasionally taken near Great Britain and elsewhere.

MEAL. See 1?read; Flour.

MEAL MOTH. A pyralid moth (Pyralis fiiriiHilis). cosmopolitan in distribution, which infests milling establishments and storerooms and which in the larval stage feeds upon stored grain, bran, and even straw, and occasionally upon dried plants in herbaria. A closely allied species (I'l/rulis costatis) is known as the clover- hay worm. There are probably four generations annually. The eggs are laid in small clusters and the larvic live in long tubes constructed of silk and particles of meal and other material, and while tinis incased in the obscure corners in whieli they habitiuilly live they are com- pletely concealed frnm obsciTation. Another species, commonly called the Indian-meal moth {Plodia intcrpKnelella) . in the larval stages feeds not only upon Indian meal, but upon all sorts of dried vegetable products, such as peas, beans, nuts, acorns, and dried fruit, and upon root and bark preserved in drug stores.

MEAL WORM. The larva of either one of two or more beetles of the family Tcnebrionidae, which, originally of Asiatic or European origin, have become cosmopolitan enemies of meal. Hour, br.in. and other mill luoduets. They develop in refuse graindnst accunuilated in dark corners and out-nf-tbe-wny places in flour mills, bakeries, stores, anil stables. They are also of importnnce as enemies to ship biscuits ami other kinds of crackers. These meal worms are easily bred in confinement, have a commercial value to the bird de.tlcr. and are kept on sale in bird stores as food for 'soft billed' cage-binls. The yellow meal worm C/'fiielirin molitor) is the commonest of these insects. The lieetle is over half an inch in length, somewhat flattened, shining, and nearly black: and the larva is cylindrical, slender, over an inch long, and has a waxy appearance and a yellowish color. The eggs are white, bean-shaped, about one-twentieth of an inch long, and are de- posited in the meal or other food substance. The dark meal worm {Tenehrio obscunis) is very similar to the yellow meal worm, but dull black in color; it has been found in black pepper, phos- phate fertilizers, cotton seed and cotton meals, and in commercial soda ash. Perfect cleanliness about slorerooMis and milling establishments is the best preventive of the attacks of these in- sects, and rooms or buildings once infested may be freed by the use of disulphide of carbon or hydrocyanic acid gas. Consult Cliittenden, Bul- letin Jf, ew Series, Dii-ision of Entomology, Drpitrtmiiit of Agriculture (Washington, 1890). MEALY BUG. A naked se:ile-insect of the genus Dactylopius, so called because of the white, meal-like powder which covers it. Like other members of the subfamily Coccin;p, the body is not covered by a scale, and the females keep the form of the body with the segments distinct until the end, and also retain the power of motion. The antenna- of tlic female are six-jointed in the larva and eight-jointed in the adult ; the male larva has seven-jointed antennip. The tarsi are furnished with four digitules, and the anal ring with four hairs. Most of the mealy bugs are tropical or sulitropical, but several s]u'cies breed abundantly out of doors in the Soiillicni failed States, e.g. Dactylopius cilri, a well-known enemy THE MEAl.Y DUO

a, Female (enlarged): b, group of mealy bugs on a tree. of orange groves in Florida. It is, however, as greeniiouse jicsts in temperate regions that the mealy bugs are best known. They secrete a cer- tain amount of honeydew. and are frecpiently at- tended by ants, which are responsil>le for much of the spread of mealy bugs in greenhouses, since they attend the young bugs and carry them to appropriate feeding grounds. The mealy secre- tion which covers these bugs renders it difTicult to destroy them with some of the insecticide mix- tures, but a dihite kerosene-soap emulsion is cllicacious. Consult Com.stock, Ifi/iort of the Vniled Sidles Department of Agriculture (Wash- ington. 18S0).

MEALYWING. A bug of the family Aley- rodiihr, sii calleil from the white, meal like excre- tion on the wings of the adult insect. The mealy- wings arc allied to the aphids and scale-insects. They are very small, frequently minute, and in- fest the leaves of plants, both herl>accous and of trees, usually on the lower side. In their early stages they are scale-like, and much resemble some of the Coccidir. Unlike the Coccida-. the two se.xes develop in a similar manner, and both males and females are active and have two pairs of wings. In the early stages the bmly may be more or less covered with wax. The antinnjp of the adults are soven-jojnteil. and the eyes are usially constricted near the middle, being some- times entirely divided. The wings are broad and well-ronnijed, and may be clear or spotted and banded in different ways. About 150 species are