| 释义 |
melanic, a. (n.)|mɪˈlænɪk|
[f. Gr. µελαν-, µέλας black + -ic.]
1. Ethnol. Having black hair and a black or dark complexion. Cf. melanocomous, melanous.
1826Prichard Res. Phys. Hist. Man. (ed. 2) I. 139 These three varieties are the melanic, including all individuals or races who have black hair; the xanthous..; and the albino. 1829T. Price Physiogn. & Physiol. Inhabit. Brit. 109 Whether I should attribute the few melanic countenances, I noticed in the South of Ireland, to a Spanish origin.
2. a. Of animals: Affected by melanosis. Esp. in reference to the darker varieties of moths and other animals that have developed in certain industrial areas. Also as n., an animal characterized by melanism.
1882–4Yarrell's Brit. Birds (ed. 4) III. 665 The melanic varieties occasionally found in our northern Skua. 1894Naturalist 333 A melanic form of the Pipistrelle. 1903Daily Chron. 30 Dec. 3/3 The melanic variety of the common leopard. 1915R. C. Punnett Mimicry in Butterflies viii. 101 In some parts of England the common peppered moth, Amphidasys betularia, has been almost entirely supplanted by the darker melanic form doubledayaria. 1940H. B. Cott Adaptive Coloration in Animals i. i. 17 The distribution of such melanic varieties, coinciding as it often does with industrialism, is very significant. So is the fact that the melanic forms have not..become established, even though they are present, in rural districts. 1958H. B. D. Kettlewell in New Scientist 3 July 298/2 New theories were evoked to account for the rapid spread of species [of moths] changing from light coloration to black—the ‘industrial melanics’. 1970Nature 12 Sept. 1155/1 The murk of nineteenth century Manchester fostered the melanic form carbonaria of the peppered moth, Biston betularia (L.). 1971Ibid. 29 Oct. 586/3 The value of smoke abatement is demonstrated by the almost immediate decline in the frequency of the melanics where smoke control zones are introduced. 1973Ibid. 21/28 Dec. 535/1 Intensive selective predation by birds on moths, which largely accounts for the presence of melanics in both industrial and some non-polluted rural areas. 1975Sci. Amer. Jan. 90/2 The first [problem] is the question of why there is a difference in the proportion of melanics found among populations of various moth species that share the same environment. Ibid. 95 (caption) Frequency of melanic form is different in various species.
b. Used as the distinctive epithet of the black pigment occurring in melanosis, and of the cells containing it.
1847–9Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 116/1 Melanic pigment is essentially composed of extremely minute granules. Ibid. 116/2 Melanic cells never exhibit any tendency even to cohere—much less to form the basis of a stroma. 1855Dunglison Med. Lex. (ed. 12), Melanic, of or belonging to Melanosis; as Melanic deposit, a black colouring matter deposited from the blood under special circumstances.
3. melanic acid.
†a. Prout's name for indican of urine (see indican b). Obs.
1822Medico-Chirurg. Trans. XII. i. 45 note, Dr. Prout would propose to distinguish this new substance, on account of its black colour, by the name of Melanic acid.
b. (See quot.)
1844Fownes Chem. 434 In a humid state they [sc. crystals of salicylite of potassium]..eventually change to a black, soot-like substance..called melanic acid. |