Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/437

 SCL

twenty nine days, and answered to the iatter part of our

May and beginning of June. See Month.

It had its name from the feaft feirropboria, kept in it.

SCISSIMA, in botany, a name given by ibme authors to the beech tree. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

SCISSORS. Mr. Monro has given us the figure and defcrip- tion of a pair of feijfors, the blades of which are crooked on their flat fides. Thefe fdjfors are very ufeful for taking oft' excrefcences from hollow parts, or for cutting in curve lines, which the common feijfors cannot eafily be applied to. Med. EfT. Edinb. Vol. 5. art. 41.

SCIURUS, the fquirrel, in the Linniean fyftem of zoology, makes a diftincf genus of animals, the characters of which are; that the creatures have four toes on the fore feet, and five on the hinder, wiih palms made for climbing and leaping, and all have woolly tails. Linnai Syftem. Natur. p. 33.

We have five fpecies of this little animal defcribed to lis. 1. The common Englifh kind. 2. The great grey Virgini- an one. 3. The black backed kind of Ceylon. 4. 9 I'he American flying fquirrel. And 5. the Barbary kind. The common Englifh fquirrel is well known, and is di- ftinguifhed from the others by its fize and colour. It is fomething larger than the weafel, but fhorter bodied; its back and fides are reddilh; its throat and belly white; and it generally carries its long hairy tail erecf over its back, fo that it ferves it for a fhade. It is common in our woods, and feeds on all forts ot fruit, but principally on hazel nuts; which it gathers in the feafon, and lays up for its winter ftore. The fame fpecies of fquirrel with ours is found in Poland and RuSia, grey or aih coloured. The fecond, or great grey American jqui rril, is very com- mon in Virginia, and is of the fize of a rabbet. It is of a dark iron grey, fuch as feme rabbets are of; its fore feet have only tour toes, its hinder ones five. The third, or black backed fquirrel, is found in the ifland of Ceylon, and called by fome rukkaia, from the noife it makes. The hair on its back is fometimes grey. The fourth, or flying fquirrd, is a very linall kind; its back is of a dufky moule-coloured grey; its throat and belly White; its eyes fmall, black, and prominent, refembling thofe of the moufe kind; its tail is very long, and very broad and flat. It has a thin and lax fkin on each fide, Which is fixed to the fore ar.u hinder legs, and confequently, on the extending its legs, this (kin expands on each fide like a fort of fail : this it always does in leaping, and is by that means carried a great way; and hence has arifen the opinion of its flying. It is very common in New Spain, and is fometimes met with in the colder American countries. It very much approaches to the moufe kind in many particu- lars, receding from the nature of the fquirrel. Its furr is fhort like that of the rat or moufe, not long like the other fquirrels. It never ereas its tail on its back, nor turns or twifts it round, as the other fquirrels do. It has a very beautiful black line on each fide the face, near the eyes.

The fifth kind, or Ekrbary fquirnel, is of a mixed colour, between black and reddilh, and is very beautifully variegated all down the fides with brown and white longitudinal ftreaks, laid in a regular alternate order, and each reaching the whole length of the body. Thefe lines are, in fome ol" thefe creatures, not brown and white, but black and white;

■ and the tail, when in a ftate of reft, is feen elegantly (beak- ed with the fame colours, but when the creature erefts it, the hairs Handing all upright, the beauty of this variegation is hid. The belly of this creature is blue and white. It is fmaller than our fquirrel, and has fhorter ears, which are loundiih, and lie clofe on the head. The whole head has much of the figure of a frog's, in all other refpects it is per- fectly Kke our fquirrel. Ray's Synop. Quad. p. 2 14.

SCLARI.A, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the charaaers of which are thefe. The flower confifts of one leaf, and is of the labiated kind; the upper lip is hooked like a reaper's fickle, and the under one divided into three fegments, the middle one being largeft, and hollowed like a fpoon. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the hinder part of the flower. It is fur- rounded by four embryos, which ripen into as many feeds. and are contained in a fort of tubular capfule, which was the cup of the flower.

The fpecies of fdarea, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The fdarea, called ^allitrichum fativum and or- vala by authors. 2. The woolly fdarea with very large flowers, called Mtbupis by many authors. 3. The jagged leaved felarea, called the Mthiopis with divided leaves. 4 .The large leaved glutinous Portugal fdarea. 5. The afphodel rooted fdarea. 6. The Indian fdarea with variegated flow- T't-?' J he S ll,t,nous Pyraiean felarea with finuated leaves. 8. I he ftinking hairy white flowered fdarea. 9. The early African annual felarea. 10. The great annual Beetle felarea with pale blue flowers. II. The blue flowered meadow fdarea -with ferrated leaves. 12. The white flowered mea- dow Jelarea with ferrated leaves. 13. The bright red flo ered meadow fdarea with ferrated leaves. 14. The Tea

SCO

fdarea with deeply divided leaves. 15. The white flowered Syrian felarea. 16. The blue flowered Syrian felarea. 17. 1 he great fpotted fage leaved felarea. i 8. The fmall fmooth (age leaved felarea. ia. The purple flowered faee leaved jelarea. 20. The felarea with triangular dentated leaver 21. The triangular leaved woolly (talked felarea. 22. The blue flowered betony leaved fdarea. 23. The African fhrtib felarea with leaves like the helianthemum. 24. The large flowered dwarf felarea with jagged leaves. And 25. the Syrian felarea with rugged dentated leaves. Town. Infti

.?■ '79-

SCLERIA, a word ufed by medical writers to exprefs a hard- iiefs of the inner part of the eyelids.

SCNIPS, in natural hiftory, a name given by authors to the fmall fpecies of gnat, always found about the oak tfeeS feeding on the juices of its leaves, which it fucks by means of its fharp trunk.

It is fuppofed by fome to be hatched of the fmall oblong white worm, that inhabits the oak apples.

SCOBS, a word ufed by fome authors to exprefs the rafpings of ivory, hartfhorn, or other hard fubftances. Some alio have ufed it to exprefs the fcoriae of metals; and fome as a name for the eineres elavellati, or pot-afhes, ufed in foap and glafs-making.

SCODEGHINO, a name given by chirurgical authors to a peculiar fpecies of incifion knife, defcribed by Scultetus, and ufed by Roufl'et in performing the Caefarean operation.

SCODINEMA, a word ufed by fome medical writers to ex- prefs a heavinefs of the head.

SCOLECIA, in the materia medica of the antients, a name given to a kind of verdigreafe.

Of this there were two fpecies;, the one found native in the earth, the other fiaitious.

The latter kind was prepared by rubbing a quantity of vi- negar in a brafs mortar, with a brafs peftle, till it became thick and ropy; when it was in this condition, a fmall quantity of alum and fea fait, or nitre, were added to it, and it was fet in the fun in the heat of the dog days. It was to ftand thus till it became ropy, thick, and of a green colour; and then being drawn out into long threads, and dried, it h:; d the refemblance of worms in fhape, and thence had its name.

SCOLION, among the antients, a kind of Bacchanal fong ufed at entertainments. See Pitife. in voc.

SCOLIOSIS, a word ufed by Hippocrates to exprefs a diftor- tion of the fpine fideWays.

5COLIUM, in antiquity. See the article ScoLION.

SCOLOPAX, the wooelcoei, a Very well known bird, diftin- guifhed by its fize, which is fomewhat fmaller than that of the partridge, and by its colour, which is on the back a va- riegation of black, grey, and a reddilh brown; and oh the! belly a pale grey, Variegated with tranfverfe ftreaks of brown. Its beak is three fingers breadth long, and the upper chap a little longer than the under.

In the Linnxan fyftem of zoology, the feolopax is the general name of a large order of birds, the dfltinguifhing charafler of which is, that they have a fomewhat cylindric beak, which is rounded, and obtufe at the point. LimSsi Syftemj Natur. p. 47.

Scolopax, in ichthyography, the name of a fea fifh called irt Englifh the trumpet, or follows fifh.

It is a very fmall fifh, caught very frequently in the Medi- terranean, and common in the markets of Rome; Venice, and elfewhere. Its common length is about three inches j its body is flat, and of about one finger's breadth, and co- vered with rough and haffh fcales. The fnout is extremely long, and is hard, ftrait, and made all of one bone, broad at the head, and narrow at the end, and opening there tranfverfely with a membrane affixed to the under jaw, and ferving to open and (hut it at pleafure. The eyes are large, and their iris's of a pale red. It has a thin fin at each of the gills. The .interior part of the belly is formed into a (harp edge, and has no fins, but two bony fubftances, feeming the rudiments of belly fins; and a little lower on the belly it has one, which is longer and notched. Behind the anus there is a long fin, reaching to the tail, and on the back there are two others very oddly placed; the hinder (lands very near the tail, the other higher up; and this laft is no other than one long and large bony fpine of two inches long, and fet in a joint, by which it is moveable at pleafure. Before this there (hands another very fine prickle, and behind it three others, which make the whole a fort of fin. Gejher, de Pifc. p. 10081

SCOLOPENDRA, in zoology, an infect of a very (lender and long body, very fmooth, and of a yellowifh or reddilh colour, furnifhed with a vaft number of legs, and having two long antennse, and a bifid tail.

It is ufed by fome as a depilatory, being boiled in wine. Dale's. Phatmacop. p. 355.

There is a fpecies of this animal, which naturally fliines in the dark in the manner of a glow-worm, but with a fainter and more general light. Every part of the body of this animal will emit (parks, if prefl'ed in the dark. It is covered with a

I foft down, or fliort and fine hair, much refembling in tex-

1 ture