Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/499

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Is caft and weft, as the philofophcrs exprefs It, referring it to the motion of the fun; but thefe fheils, to ufe that language, have the turns weft and eaft, or more plain- ly, they have the turns running from the right-hand to the left, not from the left to the right as other fnailS. Philof. Tranf. N° 250. SNAKE, (Cycl.) anguis. See the article Akcuis.

The poifonous qualities of fome of the Jerpent-km&, have given the generality of the world a diftafte to all of them, but our conimon/n^ is a harmlefs and inoffenfive animal, and might even be kept tame in our houfes, where it would deftroy°vermin, and never be of any hurt to any thing. This animal may be fuppofed as far from tamenefs in its nature, as any that could be thought of, yet, in the Acta Leiofienfia, we have an account of feveral which were kept tame in a houfe, and taught fo far, as to go regularly into their boxes every night. The perfon, who diverted birnfelf with keeping thefe, had the entertainment of feeing them change their fkins feveral times, and of obferving their lay- ino- their eggs, of which they would depofit twelve or thirteen in the fpace of half an hour. Act. Leipfienf. Anno 1670. That jhakes are viviparous, fee Philof. Tranfact. N° 8.

Snake with two heads, a kind of jnake in Brafil, having a fwelling at its tail, which at a diKance has the appearance of a head.

The Portuguefe call it fnake with two heads ; their fear of this creature, for the bite of which they pretend there is no remedy, having prevented their examining into the truth. They alfo pretend that it is dangerous to meddle with thefe Jnakes after they are dead, and that barely touching them will give the itch. Mr. Couplet was, notwithftanding, bold enough to flea feveral of them, but found himfelf, after hav- ing performed this operation on two or three, all covered with puftules filled with a reddifh water. Thefe remained on him a confiderable time, and he was not quite well in three months.

The country of Brafil abounds with large fnakes, the bite of which is venomous ; but the natives and blacks make no fcruple of eating them. Mem. de l'Acad. des Scienc. 1700. p. 228, 229.

Blood- Snake. See the article H^emorrhous.

RattleSn ake. See ^ATTi.E-fnake.

Sea-St*AKE. See the article Serpens inarinus,

Speclacle-^ ake. See Cobras de capcllo.

SNAKE-y?<?w, ammonite, in natural hiftory, the name of a large genus of foflile fheils, very few, if any, of which are yet known in their recent ftate, or living either on our own, or any other mores, fo that it feems wonderful whence fo vaft a number and variety of them fhould be brought into our fubterranean regions. They feem indeed difperfed in great plenty throughout the world, but no where are found in greater numbers, beauty, and variety, than in our own ifland. See Serpent-^kw. They are of very different fizes, as well as fpecies, fome being found of the fize of a fixpence, or lefs than that, and others of more than two feet in diameter : they are all made up of feveral circles, like thofe of a fnake when rolled up, the tail lying in the center, and the larger end, where was the mouth of the fifh, at the other. Some of them are rounded, others greatly comprefTed, or flatted, and they are at times found lodged in almoft all the different ftrata of earth or ftone.

Some of them reprefent the nave of a cart-wheel, and of thefe fome are plain, and others ftudded ; fome alfo are fmooth, or wholly free from ridges, and others have ridges more or lefs broad ; and among thefe, the ridges in fome only reach acrofs the fides, without going to the back, and others pafs the back, and form continued lines, going quite round the feveral voluta? of the fhell ; and fome are plain, others ftudded at their ends ; fome fpecies have fimple, and others bifurcated ftriE, and fome are ftudded and umbilicat- ed ; fome alfo, both of thefe and of the nautili, have a fort of foliaceous work about their futures, which gives a great beauty to the whole. The back of thefe fheils alfo greatly differs in the different kinds ; many of them have a ridge running all the way along the back, which in fome is plain, and in others is denticulated, or fcrrated ; and of thefe fome have a furrow on each fide of the ridge, which others want, and fome have elegant rows of ftuds running on each fide this furrow; and finally, fome have only a fingle furrow running all the way along their backs. They all confift of feveral volute, which are different in number in the diffe- rent fpecies ; and their ftria? are alfo extremely various, fome very deep, and the ridges very high between them, others very flight, fome ftrait, others irregularly crooked, others undulated, and fome terminating in dots, tubercles, or ca- vities, toward the back, and others having tubercles in two or three places.

They are all compofed of a great number of chambers, or cells, in the manner of the nautilus Grezcorum, each having a communication with the other?, by means of a pipe or fi- phunculus. There is a (mail white fbdl-fifh of Barbadoes, •which feems truly a recent animal of this genus 5 and in the Suppl, Vol. II.

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Eaft-lndies there Is another alfo, fmall and greyifn ; but the large, and beautifully marked ones, are found only foffiiej They are compofed of various foflile bodies, often of quarry- 4 ftone, fometimes of the matter of the common pyrites, and of a great variety of other fubftances ; and though they ap-' pear ufually mere ftones, yet in fome the pearly part of the original fhell is preferved in all its beauty. Sometimes alfo, while the outer fubftance is of the matter of the pyrites, or other coarfe irony, or mineral matter, the inner cavity is filled with a pure white fpar of the common plated texture. This gives a great beauty to the fpecimen. Hill's, Hift. of Foff. p. 649, 650.

The cornua ammonis, or fnake-Jlones, are found in many parts of England, particularly in Yorkfhire, where it is very plentiful in the alum rocks of feveral fizes, See Tab. of 1 Foffils, Clafsg.

The people of the place have a tradition, that all the coun- try hereabouts was very much annoyed with fnake;, but that by the prayers of St. Hilda, who lived there, they were all fent down into the earth, and there turned into ftone. The common people of this part of the kingdom pay an unfhaken credit to this idle ftory ; but they fhould confider, that if a miracle at all, it muft have been a much more extenfive one of their faint than they imagine, for thefe foflils are found not only in Yorkshire, but in almoft every part of the known world. Phil. Tranf. N° 142. SNAKE-ty^, in botany. See Bistort* SNAPDRAGON, antirrhinum, in botany, the name of a ge- 1 nus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower confifts of one leaf of a tubular form, perfonated, and hav- ing two lips, the upper of which is bifid, and the lower trifid. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed, in the? manner of a nail, in the hinder part of the flower; and af- terwards becomes a feed-veflfel, of the fhape of the head of a hog, divided into two cells, and ufually filled with fmall feeds fixed to a placenta. See Tab. 1. of Botany, Clafs 3. The fpecies of fnapdragon, enumerated by Mr. Tourneforr, are thefe. 1. The common fnapdvagon. 2. The larger long- leaved fnapdragon with purplifh white flowers. 3. The white-flowered fnapdragon with reddifh edges. 4. The white- flowered fnapdragon with very red edges. 5. The white-flowered fnapdragon with yellow edges. 6. The yel- low-flowered fnapdragon. 7. The broad-leaved fnapdragon with large pale yellow flowers. 8. The great narrow-leaved fnapdragon with bright red flowers. 9. The Portugal fnap- dragon with Very large and beautiful red flowers. 10, The great long-leaved Italian fnapdragon with large fnow-white milky flowers. 11, The hairy origanum-leaved Spzniih fnap- dragon. 12. The hairy Spanifh fnapdragon with red vale- rian leaves. 13. The talleft Spanifh fnapdragon with very narrow leaves. 14. The middle-fized antirrhinum with a large and wide-open white flower. 15. The greater field - fnapdragon with red flowers. 16. The greater hfz\d-f?iapdra* gon with white flowers. 17. The great ftone fnapdragon with very narrow leaves, and a fmall purple flower. The plant called by Cafpar Bauhine, and fome others, the cut-leaved fnapdragon, is properly a fpecies of pedicularts, and the lefier field- fnapdragon, and the ftone mother-of- thyme-leaved fnapdragon, are both fpecies of toad-flax, 'or linaria. Tourn. Lift. p. 168. See the articles Pedicularis and Linaria.

Many of the fpecies of this plant are very beautiful, and much efteemed in gardens, and are all eafily propagated from feeds, which muft be fown in a dry foil, not too rich, in April or May. In July the plants may be planted out into large borders, where they will flower the fpring following, or they may be fown early in fpring, and they will then flower in the next autumn ; but then they are not fo likely to ftand the winter, and if the autumn prove not kindly, they will hardly produce a perfect, thin feed. They all grow very well on old walls, where they have happened to fow themfelves. Miller's Gard. Diet.

SNATCH- £/<;<:£, in a fhip, is a great block with a fhiver in it, having a notch cut through one of its cheeks, for the more ready receiving in of any rope; for by this notch, the mid- dle part of a rope may be reeved into this block, without pafling it in endways. This ready block is commonly fatt- ened with a ftrap about the main-malr, clofe to the upper- deck, and is chiefly ufed for the fall of the winding-tackle, which is reeved into this block, and then brought to the capftan.

SNIEGULKA, in natural hiftory, a name given by the com- mon people of Poland to a bird of paffage, that only comes to them in the colder months.

The name fignifies the fnow-bird, and Rzaczinfki, in his Hiftory of Poland, calls it nivalis avis. The people pre- fage, from its coming, the mildnefs or feverity of their winter.

SNIGGLING, a method of fifhing for eels, chiefly ufed in the day-time, when they are found to abfeond themfelves near wears, mills, or flood-gates. It is performed thus : take a ftrong line and hook, baited with a lob or garden-worm, and obferving the holes where the eels lie hid, thruft your bait into them by help of a ftick, and if there be any, you 2 R r r ihail