MELANESIANS. 287 MELANISM. Melanesia, with the smooth-haired, light-colored Malays, who came to the archipelago as adven- liirers and immigrants. Of all the islanders of these regions they present in individual cases the strongest likeness to the equatorial African negro. Other scholars recognize a "Melancsian race.' divided into Papuans and ilelanesians proper, the latter heing taller and more dolichoce- phalic than the former, and having generally the Targe square or lozenge-shaped lace with the straight or relroiisse nose of the Melanesian race. The Melancsian is the most primitive form of Oceanic speech. The Melanesians are in general sedentary and devoted to agriculture, being only occasionally hunters and tlshers. and they use the pig as a domestic animal. JIany of the Mel- anesians make pottery, an art practicefl In- few of the Polynesiiins. They have doulile canoes and outriggers, but are not given, like the Polynesians, to long voyages. With most of them thecharacteristic dwelling is built on piles (see L.iKE-DwKi.UNGs), and often artistically deco- rated, while communal houses are found all over the Melancsian area. The bow and arrow (sometimes poisoned) are in use, with the club and spear, which lend themselves to ornamenta- tion. Some of the hafted stone axes of the Jlel- ancsians are very tine specimens of their kind. Kava, tile characteristic drink of the Polynesians, is absent, but betel-chewing prevails generally ex- cept in New Caledonia. The Solomon Islands and a few other places still present examples of cannibalism, while head-hunting, together with the ]>reservation of the skulls of the dead, is well known. Taboo assumes in Jlelanesia a less clear form than in Polynesia, amounting to simple in- terdii'tion without the intervention of mysterious forces. Tribes projier are rare in Jlelanesia. The regulation of "group marriages' is ven' strict. Secret societies' abound, including the famous duk-diik (q.v. ) . which corresponds in several curi- ous respects to the modern club. The highest development of the Melanesian is to be found in the Kiji Islands, now a British colony, the low- est in some parts of Xew Caledonia and the Solo- mon Islands. Consult: Finseh, Anfhropolor/ische E rfiflin iusc rliwr Rcise in der SiUlsrc (Berlin, 1S84) ; Imhans, Lcs "Soueelles-Echrides (Nancy, 18!I0) : Guppy. The Solomon Islands and Thrir yativcs (London, 1887) ; Legrand, Au pai/s dcs Canaqiics (Paris, 180.3) ; Codrington, The Mela- ncsian Unu/uajics (Oxford, 188.5) ; id.. The Mela- nesians: Studies in Their Anthropoloijt/ and Folk- I.orc (ib., 185)1); Parkinson. Die Volkerstiimme yeu-I'onnnerns (Berlin. 1890) ; id.. Im Bis- marcks-Aiehipel (Leipzig, 1S87) ; Haddon. Tlcad- Hiinlos. Illark. White, and Brown (London, 11I02) ; Gaggin, Amonfi the Man-Eaters: Fiji and fohiiiion Islands (London, 1000) ; Melching. Slnatiiihihlfinfi in Melanesieii (Leipzig, 1807). MEL'ANI'IDiE (Neo-Lat. nom. pi., from Lat. mrlania. from Gk. fie'Aavia, blackness, from ft^^^ac, melas. black ) . An extensive group of freshwater gastropod mollusks characterized by the long spiral shell, with the whorls more or less knobbed or tuberculated. ribbed or striated, and a horny operculum. The animal has a broad foot or creeping disk, grooved in front ; it is ovo- viviparous. The species date from the Cre- taceous period. They live in rivers, and the tubercles protect them from injure' in rapid rocky streams. The species are distributed throughout North Africa, Syria, China. India, the Philippine Islands, Polynesia, and South America. In the Southern United States, mostly in a rough square formed by the Tennessee, the Mississippi, the Chattahoochee rivers and the Gulf of Jle.xico, occur in abundance the Pleuro- ceridie, represented by the genus lo. which were formerly associated with the MelaniidiB. MEL'ANIP'PE. (1) In Greek mythology, a dauglitcrof Cliiron. Being about to bear a child, she lied to Mount Pelion to conceal herself from her father, and was changed into a. mare by Artemis and i)laced among the constellations. She is also called Evipjie. (2) A sister of Mel- eager, who died with grief at her brother's fate. ( 3 ) A sister of Ilippolyte and Queen of the Amazons. MEL'ANIP'PTJS. In Greek mythology, a Theban. the slayer uf Tydeus in the expedition of the Seven against Thebes. He was himself killed by Amphiaraus. MELANISM (from Gk. /itAaj, mclas, bLack), and ALBINISM ( from Lat. alhus, white) . Mel- anism is a phenomenon die to excess of pigment, while albinism is due to its absence. Albinism is a pathological condition, while melanism is usually normal. Melanism occurs in insects, fishes, rep- tiles, birds, and mannnals, and is noticeable in man. While in animals and man albinism is the result of disease, it may occur in nature as a sport; thus we have albino varieties. The ab- sence of pigment is normal in such Arctic animals as the polar bear, the northern or white owl, etc. ; others turn white in winter, as the Arctic fox, the American varying hare, the ptarmigan, etc. The change of color in such cases is apparently due to cold, and is associated with the develop- ment of numerous airbubblcs in the hair; in some cases there is no loss of pigment, which is merely concealed by the air-bubbles (Newl)igin). In "man the dark races owe the color of their skin to a black pigment deposited in the deeper layers of the epidermis, this pigment in the blonde or white race being but slightly developed. As the darkest negroes inhabit the low torrid coast of West Africa, the pigmentation seems due to light, heat, and moisture combined. On the other hand, the cool damp climate of elevated or mountain regions and of the jiolar lands causes melanism. It is well known that the insects, more especially moths and butterllies, inhabiting Alpine slopes or mountain regions are darker than individuals of the same species, or of allied species, living on the drier and warmer lowlands. Packard has called attention to the melanotic moths^n the summits of the White Jlouiitains of New Hampshire and along the coast of Labrador. I.eydig was the first, jierhaps, to point out that variation toward greater darkness of coloring is connected with the action of moisture. The temperature experiments of Weismann, W. H. Edw-ards. and Merrifield have proved that be- sides moisture and elevation cold is an im- portant agent in excessive pigmentation, at least, of Lepidoptera and beetles. But melanism is not entirely confined to northern animals. The bliick leopard of Southern Asia is a melanotic variety or sport of the common leopard. The varying hare is infrequently melanistic. It has been noticed that the butterllies on islands, which are always damper than the mainland, are in- clined to be darker, whether in the East Indies or in Newfoundland.
