Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/139

 SNAKES SNEEZING 131 those of ginger and cardamoms ; it contains an essential oil ; it is an aromatic stimulant, and is sometimes used to modify the action of other medicines ; in domestic practice a tincture is used in colic, and in some parts of the country it is made to serve the purpose of ginger in cookery; it is one of the things chewed to conceal a bad breath. Two evergreen species are found from Virginia southward : A. Vir- ginicum, with small round-heart-shaped, and A. arifolium, with large halberd-shaped leaves; both possess similar aromatic rootstocks, and the leaves of all three, when dried, powdered, and used as snuff, are said to have similar properties with the foreign A. J&uropceum, or asurabacca, in producing sneezing and a copious flow of mucus from the nose. Black snake- root is sanicula Canadensis and S. Marilan- dica. Button snakeroot is eryngium yucccefo- lium ; the same name is also givem to some Canada Snakeroot (Asarum Canadense). species of liatris. "White snakeroot is eupato- rium ageratoides. Snakehead is chelone gldbra. SNARES, a family of American Indians. See SHOSHONKS. SNAPPING TURTLE (chelydra serpentina, Schweig. ; genus chelonura, Fleming), an American species of fresh-water chelonians, characterized by a large head, with both jaws strongly hooked and two barbels under the chin, short and pointed snout, the nostrils near together, and the eyes large, prominent, and far forward; the sternum is small, cru- ciform, immovable, and covered with twelve plates and three supplemental ones ; the cara- pace oblong, depressed, more or less tricari- nated, deeply notched behind with three points on each side of the central notch; the neck long and thick, with a warty skin; tail very long, surmounted by a scaly or tuberculated crest; the anterior limbs with five nails, the posterior with four; the skin of the limbs above and below scaly. The head may be in great part retracted within the shell, whence it can be very suddenly extended by the long and extensile neck, but the limbs and feet are mostly exposed. The shell is dusky above, Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina). and the lower parts yellowish ; it attains a length of more than 4 ft. and a weight of 50 Ibs. ; it prefers sluggish and deep water in ponds or rivers, keeping principally at the bot- tom; it is very voracious, and feeds on fish, reptiles, and such aquatic birds as come within its reach, especially young ducks and goslings and wounded birds ; it has been known to at- tack man, and is not unfrequently caught with hooks; its flesh is much esteemed for soups, though in the old animals it has a musky odor. It goes far from water to deposit its eggs; though an excellent swimmer, it is awkward on land, walking slowly, with the head, neck, and tail extended, raised on the legs like an alligator, whence it is called by the negroes alligator cooter ; it is very savage if attacked, raising itself with such quickness on its legs as to elevate the whole body from the ground and enable it to make considerable hops, snapping with great ferocity and quickness at any object coming within reach of its long neck ; its bite is severe and tenacious. It is distributed from Maine to Georgia, and westward to the Missis- sippi, being replaced further west by the C. Temminckii (Troost; genus gypochetys, Ag.), characterized by a larger triangular head, rougher shell, and neck and limbs covered with spiny warts. In the northern states it lays its eggs, 20 to 40, between June 10 and 25, generally in the forenoon, and in captiv- ity a month later ; it excavates a hole at first directly down and then laterally, so that the widest part, where the nest is, is on one side ; sometimes several holes are dug, before one is found to suit ; the females lose their shyness at this time, and smooth the earth over with care after the eggs are deposited. In some parts of the country, the soft-shelled turtles (trionycidcB) are called snapping turtles. The eggs in these species are nearly globular, about an inch in diameter, white, and with hard shells. SNEEZING, a modification of the ordinary respiratory movements, accompanied by a vio- lent expiratory effort, sending forth a blast of air from the lungs intended to expel some irri- tating substance from the nasal air passages. It differs from coughing in the communication between the larynx and mouth being partly or wholly cut off by the drawing together of the