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SNAKE-BIRD-SNAPDRAGON.

SNAKE-EEL, the popular name of the fishes forming the family Ophisuride of some naturalists, included by others, with all the eels, in the family Muranidæ, and distinguished by the want of a tailfin, and the tail ending in a conical point like that of a serpent. They are inhabitants of the seas of warm climates. One species, Ophisurus serpens, is found in the Mediterranean. It attains the length of about six feet, and the thickness of a man's arm; is brown above, silvery beneath, and has a slender and pointed snout.

SNAKE RIVER, also called LEWIS' FORK, is the great southern branch of the Columbia (q. v.). SNAKE-ROOT. See POLYGALA and ARISTO

LOCHIA.

at the back of the head are two crescent-shaped colour, ornamented with checkered irregular patches bright yellow spots, forming a kind of ring or of black; a yellow mark on the back and sides of collar; immediately behind these are two broad the head; the lower parts yellowish, with square black spots, sometimes confluent. Two rows of black spots. The head is not flattened, as in the small black spots are arranged alternately down the viper, but is narrowed in a similar way towards the back, and larger ones at the sides; but these vary neck; there is much difference in the plates of the much in size and other particulars. The belly is head; the yellow mark on the head is a very charpale lead colour, often marbled with black. The acteristic distinction, and the back does not exhibit outer skin is changed at intervals varying according a broad zigzag pattern, as in the viper. Unlike the to the weather and other circumstances. Mr Bell Common S., the Coronella lavis is ovoviviparous, the says: 'I have known the skin shed four or five eggs being hatched within the mother. For an times during the year. It is always thrown off by illustration of the Coronella lævis, see SERPENTS. reversing it; so that the transparent covering of the SNAKE-BIRD. See DARTER. eyes, and that of the scales also, are always found Concave in the exuvia. Previously to this curious circumstance taking place, the whole cuticle becomes somewhat opaque, the eyes are dim, and the animal is evidently blind. It also becomes more cr less inactive, until at length, when the skin is ready to be removed, being everywhere detached, and the new skin perfectly hard underneath, the animal bursts it at the neck, and creeping through some dense herbage, or low brushwood, leaves it attached, and comes forth in far brighter and clearer colours than before.' This snake is partial to damp situations, and often enters water, in which it swims with great ease, moving with singular gracefulness. It sometimes remains at the bottom for a considerable time. It sometimes climbs trees, its body, when ascending the stem, being straight and rigid as a stick.' See SERPENTS. It is very voracious; its food consists of frogs, small birds and quadrupeds, &c. Its teeth being incapable of tearing, cutting, or masticating food, the prey is always swallowed entire and living. Mr Bell heard a frog emit a cry some minutes after it had been swallowed by a snake. The S. has no poison-fangs. It has another kind of defensive armour, in certain glands, which emit a volatile substance of most offensive and penetrating odour, which, like that of the skunk, can hardly be removed from the skin or clothes. No such odour is emitted except in moments of irritation or other passion. The Common S. is oviparous: its eggs-usually about fifteen or twenty in number, whitish, with a parchment-like skin, and united into a string by a glutinous substance-are deposited in moist and warm situations, often in dunghills. The mother is said sometimes to coil herself around them, but generally leaves them unregarded. This snake is capable of being tamed, and becomes familiar with those who are kind to it, whilst the approach of a stranger, or of a dog or cat, alarms it, and causes an emission of stench. In winter, it seeks some refuge from severe cold, and becomes lethargic or dormant. Large numbers of snakes often take refuge in one hole; but seldom so many as in an instance recorded by Dr Carpenter, in which about 1300 were found in an old lime-kiln.

Much interest was excited in 1862 by the discovery in England of a species of snake, Coronella lævis (see CORONELLA and SERPENTS), previously unobserved in Britain, but common in the middle and south of Europe, and sometimes distinguished by the name of AUSTRIAN S., sometimes by that of SMOOTH S., none of the scales being ridged or keeled, as in the Common Snake. It inhabits much drier situations than those affected by the Common S., where it is often found in company with the Sand Lizard, situations more resembling those in which the viper is found. This snake is also more similar to the viper in form and appearance than the Common S., and these circumstances have probably led to its being often mistaken for the viper, and its existence in England remaining unnoticed so long. It attains a length of about two feet; is of a shining brown

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SNAKE-STONES, small rounded pieces of stone or other hard substance, popularly believed to be efficacious in curing snake-bites. A belief in their efficacy has been long and very widely diffused, and probably extended to Britain and other western parts of the world from the East. Small perforated balls and rings of various kinds of stone, ivory, &c., strung together like beads, were formerly used as snake-stones in Scotland, being given to cattle to chew when they were bitten by vipers. Of course they could only be expected to act as a kind of charm. Many of the snake-stones used in India and the further east seem to be of no greater value. Some of them, however, appear to be really efficacious, being applied to the wound and absorbing blood from it with the poison before it has entered the system. Remarkable instances are related of speedy cures thus effected. The snake-stone adheres for a short time to the wound, and then falls off. The wounded limb is meanwhile rubbed downwards. Two small snake-stones, each the size of a large pea, brought from India, and which were known to have cured a man bitten by a cobra, were found by Mr Quekett to be composed of some vegetable matter. Another, also known to have cured a cobra's bite, having been brought from Ceylon by Sir James E. Tennent, was examined by Mr Faraday, and was deemed by him to be a piece of charred bone, which has been filled with blood, perhaps several times, and then carefully charred again.'-See Buckland's Curiosities of Natural History, and Tennent's Ceylon, vol. i.

SNAKE-WEED, another name of BISTORT (q. v.).
SNAKE-WOOD, another name of LETTER-WOOD

(q. v.).

SNAPDRAGON (Antirrhinum), a genus of plants of the natural order Scrophulariaceae, consisting of annual and perennial herbaceous plants, chiefly natives of the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere. They have the calyx 5-parted: the corolla swollen at the base, but without a spur, and personate (Lat. persona, a mask), i. e., its mouth closed by the pressure of the lower against the upper lip; and the fruit is a 2-celled oblique capsule, opening by three pores at the apex. The

SNAPHAUNCE-SNIPE

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SNEE’HÄTTEN. See NORWAY. SNEEK, a prosperous trading and manufacturing town in the Netherlands, province of Friesland, 13 miles south-south-west of Leeuwarden. It is built in the form of an irregular triangle, has three canals, and good water-way to the sea. Rich meadow-lands, in some places tending to be marshy, surround the town, and in the neighbourhood is a considerable lake called the Sneekermeer. Pop. 9395, of whom about one-sixth are Roman Catholics, the remainder, except about 150 Jews, Protestants. S. is the largest butter and cheese market in the province; in 1863, the quantity sold reaching 4,887,025 lbs. of butter, and 2,001,828 lbs. of cheese. The principal buildings are the Reformed Church, Town-house, Baptist Church, and Jewish synagogue.

SNEEZE-WOOD (Ptæroxylon utile), a tree of the natural order Sapindacea, a native of South Africa, common in the eastern districts of Cape Colony. The timber rivals mahogany in beauty, takes a fine polish, is very solid, strong, and durable. It receives its English name, and its Dutch name, Nieshout, from the sternutatory properties of its sawdust, by which workmen are often much annoyed.

SNELL EXHIBITIONS. These exhibitions were founded in the year 1677 by John Snell of Uffeton, in the county of Warwick, for the purpose of educating Scottish students at the university of Oxford. Snell was born in the parish of Colmonell,

scholarships which now bear his name. The exhibitions have been the subject of much litigation in the court of Chancery, and are now administered under a scheme settled in 1861. The exhibitioners are nominated by the college of Glasgow, and receive about £108 annually each during five years. Candidates for these scholarships must have been born in Scotland, or must be sons of fathers born in Scotland, and must have resided for two years at least in Glasgow College, or for one year in that college, and two at least in some other college in Scotland. None are admitted to examination who have completed their 21st year, or have been members of the university of Oxford of more than two years' standing from the day of their matriculation inclusive. Two exhibitioners are nominated annually after public competition. The list of Snell exhibitioners includes not a few well-known names, such as J. G. Lockhart, Sir W. Hamilton, the late Bishop of London (Tait), &c.

SNIA'TYN, a town of Galicia, in Austrian Poland, is situated on the Pruth, and was formerly a frontier stronghold. It has tanneries, and a considerable trade in cattle and horses. Pop. 10,598, among whom are many members of the Armenian Church.

SNIPE (Scolapax), a genus of birds of the family Scolapacidæ (q. v.), having a very long straight bill, with nasal grooves extending almost to the tip, which expands a little, the upper mandible slightly exceeding the lower in length, the whole bill soft and very sensitive, smooth and shining in the living bird, but soon after death becoming pitted like the end of a thimble by drying. The head is compressed; the eyes large, and placed far back in the head, an evident adaptation to the mode of life, enabling the bird to guard against danger, whilst its bill is plunged in the mud. The feet have three toes before, divided to the base or very nearly so, not edged by membrane, the hind-toe short. The tail is short. The genus naturally divides itself into two sections, sometimes regarded as distinct genera, the first consisting of the Woodcocks (q. v.), to which the generic name Scolapax is appropriated; the second containing the species popularly known as Snipes, which receive the generic name Gallinago,

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(Gallinago media); 3, Jack Snipe (Gallinago gallinula).

in Ayrshire, in 1629, and entered the university | 1, Solitary Snipe (Gallinago major); 2, Commor. Snipe of Glasgow in 1644. He afterwards removed to England, where, after holding several offices of a legal nature, he was appointed seal-bearer to the Court of Chancery. He died at Holywell, near Oxford, in 1679, leaving his estate of Uffeton, near Leamington, to trustees (the Vice-chancellor of the university of Oxford, the Provost of Queen's College, the Master of Baliol College, and the President of St. John's College), for the foundation of the ten

and are distinguished by their lighter form, by their longer legs, and by having a little of the lower part of the tibia bare.-The COMMON S. (S. gallinago, or Gallinago media) is about 11 inches in entire length, the bill almost 3 inches. The sexes are alike in plumage, but the female is rather larger than the

SNIPE-FISH-SNOW.

male. The general colour of the upper parts is blackish brown, finely mixed with pale brown and with a rich buff colour; three pale brown streaks along the head; the neck and breast pale rust colour mottled with black; the belly white. The tail consists of 14 feathers. The S., when flushed, changes its course several times in a zigzag manner in the air, and then darts off very swiftly, so that young sportsmen find it a very difficult bird to shoot. The S. makes a very inartificial nest of a little dry herbage, in a depression of the ground, or sometimes in a tuft of grass or rushes. The eggs are four in number, pale yellowish or greenish white, the larger end spotted with brown. This species of S. is plentiful in all the moory and marshy parts of Britain, and generally throughout Europe, also in some parts of Asia, and it is found in the north of Africa. It breeds in Britain, even in the south of England, although many of the snipes which spend the winter in Britain migrate northwards in spring. The S. is capable of being tamed, and becomes very familiar, but is difficult to keep from the prodigious quantity of worms and other such food which it requires. A tame S. has been known to eat nearly twice its own weight of worms in 12 hours. The S. is in high esteem for the table, and is included amongst game in Britain. The habits of all the other species of S. correspond very nearly with those of the Common Snipe. The GREAT S., or SOLITARY S. (S. or G. major), is comparatively a rare bird in Britain, but abounds in the extensive marshes of continental Europe, and is found also in Asia. Its entire length is about 12 inches, the bill not quite so long in proportion as that of the Common Snipe. There are 16 feathers in the tail. The JACK S., or JUDCOCK (S. or G. gallinula), the smallest of the British species, is like the Common S. in plumage. It is common in Britain, but mostly as a winter visitant, and is found also, during summer or winter, in most parts of Europe and of the north of Asia.--North America has a number of species. The COMMON AMERICAN S. (S. or G. Wilsoni) is about equal in size to the Common S. of Europe, and much resembles it also in plumage. The tail has 16 feathers. This species is abundant in summer in the northern parts of the United States and in Canada, in the more southern states in winter. It is in much request for the table, and is often caught in snares.-Snipes are found also in other parts of the world. The name S. is extended in popular usage to include the genus Macrorhamphus, in which the outer toes are connected at the base by a membrane. In other characters, as well as in plumage and habits, the similarity to the true snipes is very great. The RED-BREASTED S., or BROWN S. (M. griseus), of North America has been occasionally seen in Britain and in Scandinavia. In size it is nearly equal to the Common Snipe.

SNIPE-FISH. See TRUMPET-FISH.

SNIʼZORT, LOCH, a large and picturesque inlet of the sea, in the north-west of Skye (q. v.), between Trotternish Point and Vaternish Point. At its head, the loch is only a few furlongs broad; but it gradually expands and at its entrance the breadth is over 7 miles. It is 13 miles long.

SNORRI STURLESSON, a learned historian, and a distinguished Icelandic politician, was born in 1178 at Hvamma, in Iceland, where his family, who traced their descent to the ancient kings of Norway and Sweden, had been settled since the early colonisation of the island. S. S. was placed at an early age under the care of Jon Loptson, the grandson of Sæmund Sigfusson, the learned compiler of the old Edda, by whom he was instructed in the

history, mythology, and poetry of the North, as well as in classical literature. By his marriage, at the age of 26, with a rich heiress, and the speedy death of his father, S. S. early attained a position of wealth and influence, and by the free choice of the people, was elected supreme judge, or chief magistrate of the island. In this post, he was distinguished for his profound knowledge of the laws and civil institutions of his native country; but his ambition, avarice, and love of intrigue embroiled him personally in sanguinary feuds, and contributed to hasten the destruction of Icelandic independence. His love of intrigue led him to take part in the intestine troubles of Norway, and thus drew upon him the suspicion and ill-will of the Norwegian king, Hakon, who sent secret instructions to Iceland for his arrest; or, if need be, his assassination. The king's intentions were carried out to their fullest extent; and his numerous enemies joining together in a plot against him, S. S. was attacked in his own house, and murdered in the year 1241. S. S. was a poet of no mean order, and composed numerous drapas, or laudatory poems, on the kings and jarls at whose courts he sojourned. His great work is the Heimskringla, or Mythic Ring of the World, in which he records the history of the kings of Norway from the earliest times to the death of Magnus Erlingsson, in 1177; and which he compiled from ancient genealogical tables and other documents. It was translated into Danish about 1559 by Peder Clauson, and published first by Olaf Worm (Cop. 1633). This translation has been republished in more recent times by Gruntvig (3 vols., Cop. 18181822) and others. German, Swedish, and Latin versions have also been executed. S. S. is believed to have had a share in collecting and arranging the songs of the elder or poetic Edda (q. v.), and to have contributed very materially towards the compilation of the Skalda and other parts of the younger or prose Edda.

SNOW is the frozen moisture which falls from the atmosphere when the temperature is 32° or lower. It is composed of crystals, usually in the form of six-pointed stars, of which about 1000 different kinds have been already observed, and many of them figured, by Scoresby, Glaisher, and others. These numerous forms have been reduced to the following five principal varieties-1. Thin plates, the most numerous class, containing several hundred forms of the rarest and most exquisite beauty (figs. 1 to 6). 2. A spherical nucleus or

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Fig. 1.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 2. Fig. 3. plane figure studded with needle-shaped crystals (fig. 8). 3. Six or more rarely three sided pris5. Prismatic crystals, having at the ends and matic crystals. 4. Pyramids of six sides (fig. 9). middle thin plates perpendicular to their length (fig. 7). The forms of the crystals in the same fall of snow are generally similar to each other. The crystals of hoar-frost being formed on leaves and other bodies disturbing the temperature, are often irregular and opaque; and it has been observed that each tree or shrub has its own peculiar crystals. Snow-flakes vary from an inch to 7ths of an inch in diameter, the largest occurring when the temperature is near 32°, and the smallest at very low temperatures. As air has a

SNOW-BALL TREE-SNOWDON.

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which includes nearly the whole of Europe; on traversing the Atlantic, it rises to 45°, but on nearing America descends to near Charleston; rises on the west of America to 47°, and again falls to 40° in the Pacific. It corresponds nearly with the winter isothermal of 52° Fah. Snow is unknown at Gibraltar; at Paris, it falls 12 days on an average annually, and at St Petersburg 170 days. It is

from 10 to 12 times lighter than an equal bulk of water. From its loose texture, and its containing about 10 times its bulk of air, it is a very bad conductor of heat, and thus forms an admirable covering for the earth from the effects of radiation. it not unfrequently happening, in times of great cold, that the soil is 40° warmer than the surface of the overlying snow. The flooding of rivers from the melting of the snow on mountains in summer, carries fertility into regions which would otherwise remain barren wastes.

SNOW-BALL TREE. See GUELDER ROSE.

SNOWBERRY (Symphoricarpus or Symphoria racemosa), a bushy deciduous shrub of the natural order Caprifoliaceae, a native of the northern parts of North America, and now very common in British shrubberies. It has simple leaves and small flowers; berries about the size of black currants, remaining on the bush after the leaves, quite white, but uneatable. The name SNOWBERRY is also given to Chiogenes hispidula, a native of the bogs of North America.

SNOW BUNTING, or SNOWFLECK (Plectrophanes nivalis), a bird of the Bunting family (Frin

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Snow Bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis).

gillida), of a genus distinguished from the true buntings by the long and nearly straight claw of the hindtoe, in this resembling the larks. There is also an approach to larks in habits; there is a similar ease and celerity in running along the ground, and the song is very different from that of any of the true buntings. The S. B. abounds in summer in all parts of the arctic regions, and in winter in more southern countries of Europe, Asia, and America. Linnæus says it is the only living creature that has been seen 2000 feet above the limits of perpetual snow on the mountains of Lapland. Great flocks are seen in New York, particularly in severe winters. The Greenlanders kill great numbers, and dry them for winter use.

SNOW BIRD (Junco hyemalis), one of the Fringillidæ, extremely abundant in the winter in the United States, but retiring to Canada in summer to breed. It breeds also on the summits of the Alleghanies to Georgia. It is slate-coloured, below the middle of the breast white, bill white. It has a weak, musical note. Other species of Junco occur in the Rocky Mountains.

SNOW'DON, a mountain-range in Caernarvonshire, North Wales, stretches in a north-east-bynorth direction from a point 5 miles north of Cricceith, near the head of Cardigan Bay, to near Conway; but is broken up by valleys and rivercourses into four mountain groups, whose chief peaks are Carnedd-Llewelyn, 3460 feet; MoelSiabod, 2878 feet; and Moel-y- Wyddfa (the Conspicuous Peak'), the highest mountain in South Britain, 3571 feet above sea-level. Seen from the top, Moel-y-Wyddfa, the King of Snowdonia,' appears to send out three ridges, which gradually divide and subdivide, giving birth to numerous valleys and corries. The ascent of the highest peak of S. is effected by tourists from Llanberis (on the north), Beddgelert (on the south), Llyn-Cwellyn (on the

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SNOWDROP-SOAP.

west), and Capel Curig (on the east); the first is shortest and easiest; the last is longest, most difficult, but at the same time by far the grandest. The district of Snowdonia' was made a royal forest by Edward I. of England, but was disafforested in 1649. SNOWDROP (Galanthus), a genus of plants of the natural order Amaryllideæ, of the same tribe with Amaryllis, Snowflake, Crinum, &c. The three outer segments of the perianth spread, so as to make a bell-shaped flower; the three inner are shorter, erect, and notched at the summit. The flowers arise from a spathe. The root is bulbous, and produces two leaves and one single-flowered leafless stem (scape). The Common S. (G. nivalis),

Common Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis).

a plant too well known to need description, is a native chiefly of the south of Europe, growing in woods and pastures. It is found apparently wild in some places both in England and Scotland, but is probably rather naturalised than native, having long been much cultivated in gardens. Another species of S. (G. plicatus), with much broader leaves, is found in the south of Russia and in Asiatic Turkey.

SNOW-LINE. The snow-line marks that height above the sea-level below which all the snow that falls annually melts during summer; higher than this lies the region of perpetual snow. No general rule for the height of this line can be given, owing to the different causes which may determine it. These are--the situation of the slope in respect of the sun's rays, and hence, other things being equal, it is higher on the south than on the north side of mountains; the situation with respect to the rainbringing winds; the steepness of the slope; and the dryness or humidity of the region. The following are the observed heights of the snow-line in English feet, in different parts of the globe :

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From lat. 0° to 20°, it sinks only a very little; from 20° to 70°, it continues to fall equably; but from 70° to 78°, it sinks with great rapidity. To this general statement there are some important exceptions. It is about 4000 feet higher on the north than it is on the south side of the Himalaya, owing to the greater depth of snow that falls on the south side; to the greater dryness of the climate of Tibet, which increases the evaporation and the heating power of the sun's rays; and to the naked rocks and soil of the north absorbing more heat than surfaces covered with vegetation. It is higher in the centre of continents than near the coasts (the rain being less, and the heat greater), as seen on comparing the Pyrenees and Caucasus; and on the east than on the west coasts of continents, which is strikingly illustrated by Kamtchatka (5249) and Unalaschta (3510), situated respectively on the west and east coasts of the North Pacific. South of the equator, it rises from 0° to 18° very considerably, and more so on the west than on the east of the Cordilleras, owing to the small amount of rain and snow which falls on the west of these mountains. It is as high in 33° south lat. as in 19° north lat.; but south of this it sinks very rapidly, so that in the south of Chili it is 6000 feet lower than in the same latitude in the Rocky Mountains, and 3000 lower than in Western Europe. The mean temperature of the snow-line varies much from the equator to the pole-from 35° to 20° Fah. In the Alps, it is about 25°; and in Norway, about 23°.

SNOW-SHOES, a species of shoe much used by the Esquimaux, Laplanders, and others who inhabit those regions where snow prevails for a great portion of the year. It consists of a flat frame, of a lanceolate form (see fig.), from 8 to 14 inches in breadth at its widest part, and of great length-sometimes as much as 7, though generally about 4 feet. It is wooden frame filled in with either wholly of wood, or is a wicker-work or thongs, and has to attach it to the foot. The cross-straps on the upper surface broad surface prevents the foot from sinking in the snow.

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Snow-shoe.

SNUFF. See TOBACCO. SNYDERS, or SNEYDERS, FRANCIS, a Belgian artist, celebrated for his powers as an animalpainter, was born at Antwerp in 1579, and was formed in the school of Henry van Baelen. Origi nally, he confined himself exclusively to painting fruits, and worked with Rubens. In his pictures, with figures by Rubens, Jordaens, Honthorst, and Mierevelt, it is difficult to discover any difference of touch. For Philip III. of Spain he executed several hunting and battle pieces. S. knew how to give expression to the passions of the lower creation, and his bear, wolf, and boar fights are scarcely surpassable. The best specimens of the artist are contained in the galleries of Vienna, Munich, and Dresden, but there are also some fine pictures of his in private English collections. S. died at Antwerp in 1657.

SOAP (Lat. sapo(n), Welsh sebon-the Romans considered soap to be a Celtic invention). This well-known material, according to Pliny, first became known to the Romans by their conquest of Gaul. There are some notices of it in the English version of the Bible, but it is believed that the words borith and nether, there rendered into soap, really mean potash and soda.

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