MAR 



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MAR 



mor, Germ, warmer, Lat.) Any lime- 

 stone possessing sufficient hardness to 

 take a polish may be called marble. 



MA'RGARATE. A compound of margaric 

 acid with potash, soda, or some other base, 

 and so named from its pearly lustre. 

 LyelVs Elements. 



MARGA'RIC ACID. An oleaginous acid, 

 formed from different animal and vegetable 

 fatty substances. Ib. 



MA'RGARITE. A mineral, of a grayish- 

 white colour, occurring massive and in 

 thin crystalline laminae, intersecting each 

 other in all directions. It bears some 

 resemblance to silvery mica. 



MA'RGIN. (marge, Fr. margine, It.) The 

 border or edge. In conchology, the 

 whole circumference or outline of the 

 shell in bivalves. 



MA'RGINATE. ) T , 



MA'RGINATED. \arffznatus, Lat. 



1. In conchology^ having a prominent 

 margin or border. 



2. In entomology, when the sharp edge is 

 margined, and surrounds the surface with 

 a narrow border. 



MARGINE'LLA. An ovato-oblong, smooth, 

 univalve, with a short spire. The lip 

 thickly marginated on the outside. The 

 base of the aperture slightly notched ; the 

 columella plicated. Marginella differs 

 from Voluta in the reflection of its outer 

 lip. Recent marginellse are found in sand 

 and sandy mud. Several fossil species 



have been discovered in the calcaire gros- 

 sier. 



MARI'GENOUS. (from mare, the sea, and 

 ffiffno, to produce, Lat.) Produced by or 

 in the sea. 



MARI'NE. (marinus, Lat. marin, Fr. ma- 

 rino, It.), Belonging to the sea ; relating 

 to the sea. 



MA'RINE ALLU'VIUM. Shingle thrown up 

 by the sea ; materials cast upon the land 

 by a wave of the sea, or those which 

 a submarine current has left in its 

 track. 



MARI'NE VEGETA'TION. The marine ve- 

 getation, says Mr. Lyell, is less known ; 

 but we learn from Lamouroux, that it is 

 divisible into different systems, appa- 

 rently as distinct as those on the land, 

 notwithstanding that the uniformity of 

 temperature is so much greater in the 

 ocean. The number of hydrophytes, or 

 plants growing in water, is very consi- 

 derable, and their stations are found to be 

 infinitely more varied than could have 

 been anticipated ; for while some plants 

 are covered and uncovered daily by the 

 tide, others live in abysses of the ocean, 

 at the extraordinary depth of one thou- 

 sand feet ; and although in such situa- 

 tions there must reign darkness more 

 profound than night, at least to our 



organs, many of these vegetables are 

 highly coloured. Principles of Geology. 



MARL, (mergel, margel, Germ.) A com- 

 bination of common clay and calcareous 

 earth ; a mixture of clay and lime. 



MA'RLY. Composed of marl ; containing 

 marl ; resembling marl. 



MA'RMORATE. } (marmoratus, Lat.) When 



MA'RMORATED. $ the markings or lines 

 are variegated like marble. 



MARMORA'TION. Incrustation with marble. 



MARSU'PIAL. (from marsupium, a pouch, 

 Lat.) Having a pouch; belonging to 

 the order Marsupialia. New Holland is 

 known to contain a most singular assem- 

 blage of mammiferous animals, consisting 

 of more than forty species of the marsu- 

 pial family. 



MARSUPIA'LIA. Animals possessing abdo- 

 minal pouches. The marsupialia form 

 the fourth order of Mammalia, in Cu- 

 vier's arrangement. The economy of 

 marsupialia is in many respects most sin- 

 gular. One most striking peculiarity is 

 the premature production of the foetus, 

 whose state of ^development at birth is 

 extremely small. Immediately on their 

 birth they pass into a sort of second 

 matrix. Incapable of motion, and scarcely 

 displaying any germs of limbs or external 

 organs, these diminutive beings attach 

 themselves to the mammae of the mother, 

 where they remain fixed by the mouth, 

 until they have acquired a growth and 

 development, resembling that of other 

 newly-born animals. The skin of the 

 animal is so arranged round the mammae 

 as to form a pouch in which not only the 

 imperfect foetus, attached to the nipple by 

 its mouth, remains till fully developed, 

 but into which, long after it is able to run 

 about, it leaps when alarmed, or when 

 wishing to conceal itself. The order 

 Marsupiala holds an intermediate place 

 between viviparous and oviparous ani- 

 mals, forming a link, as it were, be- 

 tween Mammalia and Reptiles. The 

 order Marsupialia contains many genera, 

 both herbivorous and carnivorous. The 

 kangaroo and opossum are familiar ex- 

 amples. Another peculiarity in these 

 animals consists in this ; that the mem- 

 bers of two litters are sometimes sucking 

 at the same time. The New Holland 

 opossums are very voracious, and devour 

 carcasses as well as insects ; they enter 

 into the houses, where their voracity is 

 very troublesome. That most common, 

 the Didelphys Virginiana, attacks poultry 

 in the night, and sucks their eggs. It is 

 said to produce sixteen young ones in 

 one litter, which, when first born, do not 

 weigh more than one grain each ; though 

 blind, and almost shapeless, when placed 

 in the pouch tlx>,y instinctively find the 



