Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

memetic algorithm
     
         A {genetic algorithm} or {evolutionary algorithm}
        which includes a non-genetic local search to improve
        genotypes.  The term comes from the Richard Dawkin's term
        "{meme}".
     
        One big difference between memes and genes is that memes are
        processed and possibly improved by the people that hold them -
        something that cannot happen to genes.  It is this advantage
        that the memetic algorithm has over simple genetic or
        evolutionary algorithms.
     
        These algorithms are useful in solving complex problems, such
        as the "{Travelling Salesman Problem}," which involves finding
        the shortest path through a large number of nodes, or in
        creating {artificial life} to test evolutionary theories.
     
        Memetic algorithms are one kind of {metaheuristic}.
     
        {UNLP memetic algorithms home page
        (http://www.ing.unlp.edu.ar/cetad/mos/memetic_home.html)}.
     
        (07 July 1997)