MAYENNE, an arrondissement of the department of that name in France, extending over 869 square miles. It is divided into 12 cantons, and 116 communes, and contains 160,500 inhabitants. The capital bears the same name as the river on which it stands, and contains four churches, as hospital, a castle on a rocky height, and 920 dwellings, with 9500 inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in making linen and thin woollen goods, and some few cottons. Latitude 48° 18'. Longitude 0° 42' west.