Me sites (mesitez)

[NL., genus of birds peculiar to Madagascar, type of the family Mesitida, presenting a very unusual combination of characters. The general appearance is thrush-like, and there are points about the bird which Me sites variegata. have caused it to be cla ed with thrushes, pigeons, gallinaceous birds, rails, herons, etc. The nearest relatives of Me sites are the sun-bitterns ( Eurypyga ) and the kagus (Rhinochetus). (See cuts under Eurypyga and kagu.) М. variegata is cinnamon-brown varied with black. The genus was founded by Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire in 1838. It is also called Me sit ornis and Me scenas. 2. In entom., a genus of beetles of the family Cal and rid a, of wide distribution and few species. They abound in Madeira and the Canary Islands, breeding in decaying and dead euphorbias and laurels. Two species occur in the United States, M. sub cylindric us and M. ruficollis. 3. A genus of fishes: same as Galax i as. Jenyns, 1842.-4. A genus of echinoderms.