Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/310

* MEGASA. 278 MEGATHERIUM. built, and finally sunendered to the Romans under Alett'llus. Alone among the cities of Greece, it was not restored by Hadrian; Alaric still I'urlluT reduced it, and in 1087 the Vene- tians uoniplctely destroyed it. Megara was cele- brated in antii|uity as tlio spat of the Mogarian School of philosophy, founded by Kuelid, a native of the city. The site is now occupied by a prosjierous Greek towTi, bearing the ancient name, with a |iopiilation of (ibout G500. MEGARICr SCHOOL. A school of Greek philosophers, who, as partial disciples of Socrates, expanded one side of their master's teaching. While the Cynic and Cyrenaic schools developed his ethical teaching, the Mcgarie devoted itself rather to dialectical investigations. Their prin- cipal leader was Euclid of Jlegara, who was probably one of the earliest disciples of Socrates. He united the ethical principle of Socrates with the Elcatic theory of one immutable substance. MEG'ARIS (Lat., from Gk. Meyapls). In ancient geography, a small district in Greece, lying lietwcen the Corinthian Gulf on the north and northwest and llie Saronic Gulf on the south- east. It was bounded on the north by Bo'otia, on the northeast by Attica, and on the southwest by the District of Corinth. The capital was Megara (tA yiiyapa) (q.v.) . MEGASPORAN'GIUM (Xeo-Lat., from Gk. fi^a^, Hi'i/'is. great + airdpos, si>07'0S, seed + d77£roi', a)i(/('iOH, vessel, from 47705, anjos, jar), or Mackospokaxgium. The spore-case (sjio- rangium) which produces the megaspores. For example, the ovules are the mcgasporangia of seed-plants. See HETimospoRY; Spoa^vNciuM; aiEGASPOUi:. MEG'ASPOBE (from Gk. ^^as, megas, great + (TTripos, Kjioros. seed). In the higher plants, two kinds of spores are produced, and the larger ones are called megaspores. In their germina- tion they give rise to the very small female plants (female gametophytes) . In seed-plants the megaspore germinates within the ovule, and has been called the 'embryo-sac.' 'Macrospore' is a synonym. See Heterospoby and Spore. MEGASPOR'OPHYLL (from Gk. iifyas, mrfjfin. great ~- (nrdpos^ sjioroa, seed -}- tpjjKXoVj phi/llon. leaf), or Macrosporophyll. In the higher plants, the two kinds of spores, niicro- sporos and megaspores, are usually borne upon distinct leaf-structures (sporophylls), 1ho>e bear- ing the megaspores being called megasporophylls. The carpel of flowering plants is a megasporo- phyll. See IIeterospory : SpoBornYLL. MEGAS'THEICES ( Lat.. from Gk. Meyaaein,,) (nourished c.;!(ll) ij.c. ) .V Greek writer of llie early Alexandrian period. He was assigned by Seleucus Xicator (u.c. :i 12-280) to the service of the Governor of .rachosia, by whom he was sent on several diplomatic missions to the Indian King Sandrocnttus. He published a work called Indica ('IfJutd) in four books, in which he dis- cussed the (lora and fauna of India, as well as many of the eiistointi of the Indians. Like Herodo- tus. Mesa ■<thenes admitted wonderful stories into his niirralive, and tried to identify foreign myths with those of (lie Greeks. Kecent inve^itigations. however, have shown the general tnistwortliiness of the work, which was the most valiialile account of India possessed by Europeans down to the time of the establishincnt of the Bengal Asiatic Society in 17S4. Hiodorus (ii. 35-42) gives an ab stract of the contents of the Indica, and there are numerous fragments in Slrabo and Arrian which have been collected by Schwanbeck. Mvgastliiiiis Indica (Bonn. 1840), and by ililller, I'ray. Uist. Urwc. (Paris, 1S41-70), ii., pp. .397-43lt, and trans- lated t)y .McCrindle, Ancient India as Described by Meyasthcncs and Arrian (Calcutta, 1877). MEG'ATHERI'ID.ffi (Xeo-Lat., nom. pi., from Mcijatherium, from Gk. u^as, megas, great -(- Brjplov, therion. diminutive of 8-fip, IhCr, wild beast). An American family of edentate mam- mals, of which the genus Jlcgatherium is the type, comprising a number of fossil ground- sloths of gigantic size. It is intermediate be- tween the modern anteaters (ilyrinccophagidie) and the true slotlis ( Bradypodida), and con- tains the genera Hapalops, Hyiierleptus, and others of the Santa Cruz formation of Miocene age in Patagonia, and Megatherium, Mylodon, Megalonyx, and Scelidotherium of the Pleisto- cene of Xorth and South America. See AIeo- ATIIERIIM. MEG'ATHE'RIUM (Xeo-Lat.. from Gk. u^7as, megas, great -f- Srjphv, thi'rion. diminu- tive of eip, titer, wild beast). A gigantic fossil edentate mammal, larger than a rhinoceros, which lived in comparatively recent geoloiiical time in South America, and of which skeletons are found in the pampean deposits 1 Pleistocene) of Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. Its skeleton, which shows jioints of resemblance to both the anteaters and sloths, is of very massive con- struction, indicating a most powerful animal, about 18 feet in length. The head was small, the jaws of a form to support powerful chewing muscles, and the teeth, of which there arc only ten u[)i)er and eight lower molars, are of a pris- matic f(prm ami of such size as must have rendered them most eflective grinding organs. The structure of the forward portion of the jaws shows the lips to have been elongated and prehensile, and the grooved inshlc of the lower jaw suggests a powerful prehensile tongue, which sen'ed to pull off the twigs and leaves upon which the animal fed. The neck was short and strong, the trunk heavy an<l round. The leg bones are extrain<linarily massive and of peculiar form. The fore limbs are longer than the hind limbs, and the form of their joints indicates considerable ilexibility; they probably served somewhat as arms. The very heavy hind-limb bones and the tail bones indicate that the greater portion of the weight of the animal was Ijonir by these parts, and it is reasona1)Ie to eoncliil that the favorite position of the beast was thai of resting upon its liaunchcs. The surfai'es of the bones arc provided with ridges and rough places for the attachment of powerful muscles. The size of the animal, its evidently very great muscular power, and the structure of its hind quarters, indicate that it squatted beside a tree and with its mobile fore limbs, the middle lingers of which were armed with strong claws, pulled down and broke oil' the up))cr trunk and brancliee from which it derived its food. The liody of the animal is thought to have licen covered by tough hide and coarse hair. Megatherium was one of the first fossil inanimals described. A nearly complete skeleton was found in 1780 nt«r Buenos .-yres and sent to the museum of Madrid, where it was described and named by Cuvier, Megatherium Americanus.