Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/839

* SWAMMERDAM. 735 SWAN. bloedcloose dicrtjcs (16G9); Biblia yatuia; sive Hisloiid Insectoruin in Certas Classes Redacta (ed, Eoerhaave, 1737-38). SWAMP (AS. sicamm, swam, swamp, Goth. swam HIS, sponge, swumsl, ditch, OHG. swam, MHG. swam, swamp, Ger. Schwamm, sponge; connected with OHG. sumiift, Ger. iSioiip/', swamp, and with Gk. aofupSs, somphos, spongy). An area of wet ground usually covered with certain coarse grasses, trees, and other plants peculiar to such land. While the direct cause for dilTorences be- tween typical swamps has not been fully worked out, drainage seems to be the principal control- ling factor. It seems probable that in undrained swamps, such as peat bogs, the products of plant decay, including various acids, necessarily ac- cumulate and that aeration is imperfect. Hence it seems reasonable to believe that only xerophylic plants can grow in sich places. On the other hand, river swamps, which are comparatively well drained, may show reverse conditions. Since they are hydrophytic, as habitats they maintain plants whose structures are hydrophytic. (See Hydrophytes.) Thus undrained swamps are hydropliytic with respect to soil moisture, but xerophylic with respect to plant structures. See Xeeophytes. Perhaps no tjpe of plant society better illus- trates the order of succession or encroachment of one zone upon another than the most xero- phytic swamps, the peat bogs or moors. A typi- cal bog, for instance, may show a central pond with water lilies and other aquatics, surrounded by bulrushes, behind which may be a zone of sedges, and then grasses or swamp forests, e.g. of tamarack or arborvita?. Since each of these zones in turn advances toward and encroaches upon the centre, the swamp gradually becomes filled and drained naturally in a few years. Other characteristic xerophytic swamps are salt marshes, both the typical northern salt meadows and the mangrove swamps of the tropics. Plants of salt marshes ( halophytes, q.v. ) are very largely succulent. In many cases the coarse grasses resemble those of the prairies. In mangrove swamps xerophytic structures, rep- resented typically by the mangrove leaf, are not the sole interesting features. Above the foul water many plants develop knee-like processes which supposedly are of advantage in aeration; and vivipary (q.v.) here reaches its highest ex- pression. (See Ma>-gkove. ) A closely allied type is the so-called cypress swamp of the South- ern United States. All swamps may be considered as ephemeral plant societies, developing either into prairies or mesoph3'tic forests as they become better drained. Climate doubtless plays some part in this development, since the prairie father than the forest is likely to develop in the prairie re- gions or in the forest regions adjoining the prairie, whereas in the heart of the forest regions most swamps eventually become covered with trees. This, is, however, not a universal ex- planation, since some swamps in forest regions never tiecome sylvan. SWAMP DEER, or B.R.sLxr,HA. A deer of Northern India, of rather large size, with smooth and somewhat flattened antlers, with a promi- nent brow-tine and sometimes 16 to 20 points. It is a grazer, keeps in the outskirts of the woods, and on grassy lands, and in winter gathers into small bands. Its scientific name is Cervus Du- vatn-clll. Consult Lydeld^er, Deer of All Lands (London, 1SU8). •SWAMP HARE, or Swamp Rabbit. A hare of the swamps of the Lower Mississippi Valley {Lrpus ui/uaticKs), 24 inches long, finely mottled above with bull", rufous, and black, and more bully than the "cottontail;' belly and under side of tail pure wliite. Its habits are little known. Compare Marsh H.ke. SWAMP'SCOTT. A town, including several villages, in Essex County, Mass., adjoining Lynn and 13 miles from Boston: on Massachusetts Bay, and on the Boston and JIainc Railroad (Jlap: Massachusetts, F 3). It is attractively situated and is known as a summer resort. There are two parks, a public library with 7.300 volumes in the toAvn hall, and the IMiillips School, the most prominent building along the shore. Fishing is of some importance, but the community is engaged largely in the industries of Lynn (q.v.). The government is adminis- tered by town meetings. The water-works are owned and operated by the town. Population, in 1S110, 3inS; in 1900, 4548. SWAMP WARBLER. A large genus (Hel- minthuphila) of American wai'blers (q.v.), so called because of their fondness for low, swampy places. They are small, trim, insect-catching mi- gratory birds prevailingly gray or green and yellow in color, and most of them breed north of the United States and winter in the tropics. A good example is the 'golden- wing' (Helminthophila chrysoptera), which is gray on the upper parts and white below, with the throat and auricular region black, and a conspicuous yellow patch on the wing. SWAN (AS., OHG. swan, Ger. Schwan, swan; probably connected with Lat. sonus, sound, Skt. Sinn, to resound) . A water-bird of the duck familj^, the seven or eight species of which con- stitute the subfamily CygniniE, composed mainly of the genera Cygnus and Olor, the latter dis- tinguished by the great keel of the breast-bone being divided into two plates, between which lies the curvature of the windpipe — an organ greatly developed in this group. Swans are larger in body than geese, and are recognizable by their long arched necks, enabling them to reach food on the liottom of streams and sluillow ponds without diving. They nest mostl.v in high lati- tudes, constructing on the ground a rude re- ceptacle of rushes and the like for the half a dozen greenish eggs. They feed chiefly on vege- table substances, as the seeds and roots of acpiatic plants, but also on fish-spawn, of which they are great destroyers. They hiss like geese, and strike with their wings in attack or defense. The typical and most familiar example of the tribe is the tame or 'mute' swan ICijtinus olor), which is about five feet in entire length, and weighs about thirty pounds. It is knowTi to live for at least fifty years. The male is larger than the female. Tlie adults of both sexes are pure white, with a reddish bill; the young (cygnets) have a dark bluish-gray plumage, and lead-colored bill, surmounted by a black knob at the base of GOLDESWIXO.