mareca, marica

[Etym. of first form doubtful; the second probably the name of a nymph, the fabled mother of the Latins. ( Virgil: Æn., vii. 47.)] Ornith.: A genus of Anatidae, sub-family Anatine. The bill is very short and small, of equal breadth throughout, the tip not narrowed; the tail long, pointed. Mareca penelope is the Widgeon (q. v.). măr-ě-kan-ite, s. [Named from Marekan, in the Gulf of Kamschatka, where it occurs.] Petrol .: Obsidian in the form of little grains, of the size of peas, of a pearly-white color; occurring in thin concentric layers. A kind of Pearl stone. ( Phillips .) ma-rem-mą ( pl . ma-rěm-mê), s. [Ital.] A name given to tracts of country in Italy, uninhabitable in summer on account of the exhalations of sulphur and alum from the soil. The term is also sometimes used for the malaria or unhealthy exhalations from such a soil.