MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO. A group of isl ands in the Bay of Bengal, forming part of the district of the same name in the Burnw:e division of and scattered along the north western short' of the :Malay Peninsula (Slap: .1 7). The islands are rocky a MI TUMID Laillons, some of them rising to 3000 feet above sea level, and are noted for their varied and pic turesque scenery. They are inhabited by a race called Selling:, who subsist mainly by pearl-tish Mg and by and selling edible birds' nests. Tin mines are worked in the south. Area of district. 97S9 square miles; population, in 1901, 54.007. Mergiii, the capital of the district, with a heterogeneous population of 10.0o0 in habitants, is situated on nu island at the chief outlet of the Tenasserim River in the Bay of Beneal.
MERIAN, 1115W-elm MARIA SIMI I. s ( 1011' 1717 ) . A I Ierman painter and naturalist. born in Frankfort-on the-Slain, daughter of the en graver Statthilos Slerian, In 1665 she married Johann Andreas Craff, a painter. and removed to reml)erg. Though she was skillful in painting fruits and flowers, her taste led her particularly to natural history. Her exquisite taste, as well as the great precision which characterized her artistic work in botany and entomology, gained for her a high reputation in the scientific world of time time. In 1079 she published an excellent
work on caterpillars. entitled Eruearum Ortus. Alimentian et Paradoxa Metamorphosis. In 1698 she went. to South America and devoted herself to research on the natural history of Dutch thtiana, the result of which appeared iu her Metamorphosis Insectoram Surinamensium (1705). There are two volumes of her drawings in the British Musemm one of the insects of Europe, the other of those of Dutch Guiana. There are collections in Saint Petersburg, Am sterdam, and Frankfort.
MERIAN, .11.Arrtt.Xus. called THE ELDER (1593-1050). A Swiss engraver. He was horn at Basel, and afterwards lived in Paris and Frankfort. He began in 1640 the famous Zeiller's Topogrophie, presenting perspective views of Eu ropean cities, towns, and castles which were 1 drawn, pilgrim red, and described by himself. The work, which is regarded as extremely valuable, was continued after his death. For his biography, consult Eckardt (Basel. 1557).