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, 18()7, 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
