MACROCYSTIS 70 MADAGASCAR Court; was born in 1862, at Elkton, Ky.; graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1882, and entered the legal profession in Nashville, Tenn, In 1900 he was elected professor of law at Vanderbilt Univer- sity, but continued his practice. As cor- poration law had become his special work he was made Assistant Attorney-General of the United States, in which position and later as Attorney-General under President Wilson he successfully prose- cuted some of the great trusts for vio- lation of the Sherman Act. President Wilson appointed him a Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court in 1914. MACROCYSTIS (-sis'tis), a genus of Fucacese, family or tribe Laminaridx. M. vyrifera is a giant seaweed, with a stem 700 feet long, no thicker than the finger. The branches are as slender as packthreads; the leaves long and nar- row, each has at its base a vesicle filled with air, enabling the plant to float. It is met with in the ocean in the S. tem- perate and S. polar zones. MACROPODID^, or MACROPIDJE, in zoology, a family of Marsupials, sec- tion Phytophaga, or in Owens' classifica- tion Diprododontia. There are six in- cisors in the upper jaw, and two in the lower; the canines in the upper jaw are small and wanting in the lower one; the molars are five on each side above an3 below. The anterior feet, which are small, have five toes, each armed with a claw; the hinder ones, which are very large, powerful, and well adapted for leaping, have but four, the inner one, or great toe, being absent. Found in Aus- tralia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. Huge Macropi are found in the post-Tertiary of Australia with representatives of the other genera. Kangaroos, one of genera, seem to have been limited to Australia before the human period began. MACROPUS (mak'-), the generic name of the kangaroos, applied to them in allusion to their elongated hind feet. See Kangaroo^ MACRITRA, or MACROURA (-kror'a) , long-tailed Crustaceans; lobsters, a sub- order of Decapoda, having the abdomen greatly developed, cylindrical, the seg- ments short, flattened, and expanded laterally;^ the whole terminated by a broad swimming tail. The antennse are usually large. The feet are terminated by nipping claws. The young, on being hatched, ai*e not very different in form from their parents. They abound in both salt and fresh water. The sub-order contains the families Crangonidse, Asta- cidse, Thalassinidse, and Palimindx. They came into existence in Palaeozoic times. MADAGASCAR, a large island in the Indian Ocean, 230 miles from the E. coast of Africa, from which it is sepa- rated by Mozambique Channel; length, 980 miles; average breadth, 360 miles; area, about 228,500 square miles; pop. (1917) 3,545,264. Madagascar may be described as an elevated region, -with an average height of 3,000 to 5,000 feet, overlooked by mountains rising in some cases to nearly 9,000 feet. The coast ex- hibits a number of indentations, mostly small, but few good harbors, being in great part rock, though in some places low and sandy. On some parts of the coast are numerous lagoons. The rivers are numerous yet few of them offer even to a -nc derate extent the advan- tages of internal navigation. The r'i- mate is oppressively hot on the coast, but temperate on the highlands of the interior. The rainy season continues from December to April. The vegetable products grown for food include rice, manioc or cassava, sweet potatoes, ground nuts, and yams. Ginger, pepper, and indigo grow wild in the woods; cot- ton, sugar cane, coffee, tobacco, and hemp are cultivated. Coal is found in the N. W., rice, cattle, hides gum, india-rubber, wax, cotton, sugar, vanilla, lard, and coffee are exported to Mauritius, Reunion and Europe, Humped cattle are found in immense herds, and form a large part of the wealth of the inhabitants, as do also sheep, goats, swine, and horses. The most charac- teristic of the mammals are the lemurs. The birds are numerous; snakes are rare; crocodiles, lizards, chameleons abound. The inhabitants, called Mala- gasy, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian stock and speak a Malayan language. The Hovas are the ruling tribe, they having extended their sway over nearly the whole island. The Malagasy show much aptitude as silversmiths, gun- smiths, carpenters, and with rude looms make handsome cloths. Capital, Antana- narivo, a striking and well-built tovvTi; pop. (1917) 63,115, on a lofty hill about 200 miles inland; principal port, Tama- tave, on the E. coast; pop. about 9,000; chief port on the N. W. coast is Ma- junga; pop. about 7,000. Prior to 1895 the government was an absolute monarchy under Queen Ranava- lona III. A French Resident, however, with a military escort, resided at the covirt and controlled foreign relations, so that the country was virtually a French protectorate. Much friction pre- vailed in 1893-1894, between the govern- ment and the French authorities, and finally France decided to make her pro- tectorate of the island effective. The
