MEG [ 28 3 1 



amount to 110,592 ; and in a cubic 

 mile, the number is such, that 

 allowing one person to count a 

 million in a week, it would have 

 required 80,000 persons from the 

 creation of the world, to complete 

 the enumeration. 



MEGA'CEBOS. A sub-genus of the 

 genus cervus, and so named from 

 the immense size of its antlers; the 

 Megaceros Hibernicus, or Irish 

 fossil elk, is a species of this sub- 

 genus. The first tolerably perfect 

 specimen of the Irish elk was found 

 in the Isle of Man. A very com- 

 plete and well articulated skeleton 

 is in the British Museum, another 

 in the "Woodwardian Museum, at 

 Cambridge, and a third in the 

 Hunterian Museum, at the College 

 of Surgeons. 



MEGALO'NYX. (from /ueyas, great, and 

 owg t a claw, Gr.) A huge fossil 

 mammalian, of the order Edentata, 

 and thus named from the great size 

 of its unguical, or claw, bones. 

 The remains of the Megalonyx 

 were discovered in the floor of a 

 cavern r in the limestone of Vir- 

 ginia, in America. Cuvier approx- 

 imated the Megalonyx to the 

 Megatherium, considering that 

 these two animals must have con- 

 stituted an intermediate genus 

 between the bradypi and the ant- 

 eaters. He concludes that they 

 were both herbivorous. The Meg- 

 alonyx has hitherto been found 

 fossil only. 



MEGALI'CHTHYS. (from //^a?, great, 

 and /x^ s / a fish, Gr.) The name 

 given to a fossil sauroid fish, first 

 discovered, by Dr. Hibbert, in the 

 limestone near the bottom of the 

 coal formation, near Edinburgh. 



MEGALO'DON. A genus of fossil bivalve 

 shells, found hitherto only in the 

 Devonian system of rocks ; they 

 are equi valve, longitudinal, thick, 

 the hinge forming an incrassated 

 septum across the cavity of the 

 shell, with a large compressed bifid 



MEG 



tooth in the right valve, and one 

 irregular and pointed tooth in the 

 left. Two species are described. 

 Lycett. 



MEGALO'SAUB. } (from pe^a<?, great, 



MEGALOSAU'BUS. ) and aavpos, a liz- 

 ard, Gr.) A genus of fossil am- 

 phibious animals, of great size, 

 belonging to the saurian tribe ; 

 holding an intermediate place 

 between the crocodiles and mon- 

 itors. Cuvier concludes, from a 

 comparison of the fossil bones with 

 those of existing lizards, the mega- 

 losaurus to have been an enormous 

 reptile measuring from forty to 

 fifty, or even seventy, feet in length, 

 and partaking of the structure of 

 the crocodile and monitor, but more 

 nearly approximating the latter. 

 Remains of the megalosaurus have 

 been found in the Oolite and in the 

 "Wealden. This huge creature 

 appears to have been carnivorous, 

 from the form of its teeth, and its 

 head terminated in a straight and 

 narrow snout. 



MEGAPHY'TON. (from ^'(yasr, great, 

 and 0vToi/, a plant.) An extinct 

 genus of plants belonging to the 

 order Conifera. In the genus 

 Megaphyton the stem is not fur- 

 rowed, and the leaf scars are very 

 large, resembling the shape of 

 horse- shoes, and arranged on each 

 side of the stem in two vertical 

 rows. It is found in the coal 

 strata. 



MEGATHERIUM, (from /^e'r/as, great, 

 and Oypiov, a beast.) An extinct 

 animal, of great size, of the family 

 tardigrada, belonging to the order 

 Edentata, nearly allied to the sloth, 

 and, like the sloth, presenting an 

 apparent monstrosity of external 

 form, accompanied by many singu- 

 lar peculiarities of internal struc- 

 ture. Fossil remains of the mega- 

 therium have been discovered in 

 South America, in the alluvial 

 deposites of the Pampas. The 

 megatherium was about eight feet 



