MARSH MALLOW 



3666 



MARTEN 



hill were held the meetings of the oldest justice 

 court of the Athenians the Areopagus (which 

 see). Here, too, Paul preached the sermon re- 

 corded in Acts XVII. Authorities have never 

 satisfactorily accounted for the name Mars 

 Hill (or Hill of Ares), for the worship of the 

 god of war was not connected with the hill. 



MARSH MAL'LOW, a coarse herb of the 

 mallow, family, found growing in meadows and 

 marshes in the north temperate zone. The 

 stalks are woody and grow from two to three 

 feet high; the leaves are large and broadly 

 oval; both stalk 

 and leaves are 

 covered with a 

 soft, downy hair. 

 The pale pink 

 flowers sometimes 

 grow in the crotch 

 between leaf and 

 stem, but oftener 

 in a cluster top- 

 ping the Stalk. It THE MARSH MALLOW 

 has a white, carrotlike root, which in times of 

 famine has been used for food. This root 

 yields glue and demulcent, or soothing medi- 

 cine, but its most common use is as a basis for 

 the candy also called marshmallow. 



MARSTON MOOR, mahrs'ton moor, a plain 

 in Yorkshire, England, about seven miles west 

 of York, where the armies of King Charles I, 

 under the leadership of Prince Rupert, were 

 routed by Cromwell and Fairfax, July 2, 1644. 

 This victory gave to Cromwell and the Parlia- 

 mentary party the whole north of England, 

 practically breaking the king's power. See 

 CROMWELL, OLIVER, and other references there 

 noted. 



MARSUPIALS, mahrsu'pialz (from a Latin 

 word meaning a pouch or bag), an order of 

 mammals marsupialia remarkable for the 

 fact that the females carry the young in an 

 external pouch for some time after they are 

 born. At one time animals of this order were 

 found almost everywhere, but now they are 

 limited almost entirely to America and Aus- 

 tralia. The opossum is the only American rep- 

 resentative. The kangaroo, wombat, bandicoot 

 and Tasmanian wolf are Australian members of 

 this group. 



Although generally like other mammals, mar- 

 supials differ in the striking peculiarity which 

 gives them their name. The young are born in 

 an undeveloped state. The mother immediately 

 places them in a pouch which is usually under 

 the abdomen, and there they are cared for until 



fully developed. For some time after they are 

 able to provide for themselves, however, they 

 return to the mother's pouch for refuge when 

 frightened. Some marsupial animals live in 

 trees, others on the ground and a few in water. 

 Some are meat-eaters, while others live only on 

 vegetable food; some eat insects only, and 

 others live on every kind of food they can 

 obtain. 



Consult Parker and Haswell's Textbook of 

 Zoology; Scott's History of Land Mammals in 

 the Western Hemisphere. 



Related Subjects. The student who wishes to 

 make a somewhat extended and systematic study 

 of this curious order of animals is referred to 

 the following articles: 

 Bandicoot Opossum 



Kangaroo Tasmanian Wolf 



Koala Wombat 



MARTEN, mahr'tcn, a fur-bearing animal 

 belonging to the same family as the sable; it 

 inhabits the northern parts of both the Eastern 

 and Western hemispheres. The best-known 

 American species, called American sable and 



THE PINE MARTEN 



pine marten, once roamed through the forests 

 from Labrador to New Jersey, but it retreated 

 into the wilds as civilization advanced; it is 

 still found in large numbers in the dense woods 

 of the Hudson Bay region. It is this species 

 that for over two centuries has supplied the 

 most valuable fur for the American trade. 

 From November to March its rich brown coat 

 is thick and soft, though sprinkled with coarse 

 black hairs, which are pulled out by the fur- 

 rier. During this season the marten hunter is 

 busiest, about 100,000 of the animals being 

 killed each year to supply the demand. The 

 fur is made into coats, caps, muffs and boas, 

 and commands about th same price as mink. 



