SCALES 



3231) 



SCANDINAVIA 



Probably the best known of the group is the 

 San Jose scale of California. The San Jose 

 scale belongs to the most pernicious division of 

 the family, the adult females of which are de- 

 cidedly a degenerate type of insect. That is, 

 they remain motionless during the greater part 

 of their existence, and are lacking in legs, 

 wings, eyes or feelers. Other common Ameri- 

 can scales are the cottony cushion and the cot- 

 tony maple scales, the scurfy bark louse, the 

 pine-leaf and the rose scales and the mealy bug. 

 Cochineal and lac are commercial substances 

 produced by insects of this family. 



Consult Howard's Insect Book; Comstock's 

 Manual for the Study of Insects. 



Related Subjects. For further information 

 relating to this subject the reader is referred to 

 the following articles : 

 Cochineal Lac 



Insect Mealy Bug 



Insecticides and San Jose" Scale 



Fungicides 



SCALES, skaylz, the thin, flat plates which 

 form the outer covering of most fishes and of 

 many serpents and lizards. A few mammals 

 are also scale-covered, such as the scaly ant- 

 eater. Scales consist usually of a horny sub- 

 stance, and they overlap one another like shin- 

 gles, forming a protective armor for the softer 

 body; they vary in size, shape and arrange- 

 ment according to the size and kind of animal 

 they cover. In botany, scales are little, flaky 

 leaves which cover buds on trees and woody 

 plants in cold and temperate climates, to shield 

 them from sudden changes in temperature. 

 The regular sections of fir cones have the same 

 name. The wings of butterflies and moths are 

 covered with scales so tiny that they appear 

 like little specks of down. 



SCALLOP, skahl'up, a group of bivalve 

 shellfish related to the oysters. The two valves 

 of the shell covering are shaped like fans, and 

 in some species they are marked with promi- 

 nent ridges which radiate from the hinge. The 

 shell ends in an earlike extension, in which the 

 hinge is placed. Along the margin of each 

 mantle fold (the membrane lining the shell) 

 are a row of slender tentacles and a fringe of 

 bright blue eyes. Adult scallops have a rudi- 

 mentary foot with which they plow through 

 the mud. In swimming, the animal opens the 

 valves quickly, catching a quantity of water 

 betwetn the mantle folds, and then closing its 

 shell. Because of pressure within, the water is 

 forced out in jets through round openings on 

 the hinge, and the resulting movement against 

 the water outside pushes the animal along in a 



zigzag fashion, with the broad end of the body 

 forward. 



Two species of scallop are found along the 

 Atlantic shores of North America the com- 

 mon scallop, abundant in bays and inlets from 

 the Gulf of Mexico to Massachusetts Bay, and 

 the great scallop, occurring north of Vineyard 

 Sound, especially along the coasts of Maine, 

 Nova Scotia, Labrador and in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence. The latter is the larger of the two, 

 sometimes growing to be four or five inches 

 wide. The only part of these animals sold as 

 food is the adductor muscle, which the scallops 

 use to open and close their valves. This mus- 

 cle tastes like lobster meat and is considered a 

 great delicacy, as it is soft and tender. Scallops 

 are caught in great numbers along the coasts 

 of New England. Their shells are "planted" 

 in oyster beds to provide lodging places for 

 oyster spat. 



In the Middle Ages pilgrims to the Holy 

 Land wore in their hats a scallop shell as a 

 token of their pilgrimage. 



SCALP, skalp, the outer covering of the 

 skull. It is composed of skin, the tendon of 

 the muscle that moves the skin of the fore- 

 head, blood vessels and cellular tissue. It is on 

 the scalp that the hair grows most abundantly, 

 but otherwise the skin of this portion of the 

 body is much like that of any other. The hy- 

 giene of the scalp is closely related to that of 

 the hair. Injuries to the scalp should be treated 

 with scrupulous care to prevent infection; neg- 

 lect may result in erysipelas and other diseases. 

 In Indian warfare it was customary to cut off 

 from the head of a victim a circular piece of 

 skin and hair, about four inches in diameter; 

 this custom was known as scalping, and the 

 detached portion, which a brave would proudly 

 display as a trophy of war, was called a scalp. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes: 



Dandruff 



Hair, subhead Care of 

 the Hair 



SCAMMONY, skam'oni, a twining, climb- 

 ing plant, native to Asia Minor, having white 

 flowers and thick, fleshy roots usually two or 

 three feet in length. From the roots is ob- 

 tained a milky, white juice, which, upon drying 

 and hardening in the air, forms a gum resin of 

 medicinal value. It is used in laxative prepara- 

 tions, as the resin is a powerful cathartic. 

 . SCANDINAVIA, skan di na ' vi a, the name 

 given in a restricted sense to the peninsula of 

 Norway and Sweden, but more broadly used 

 to designate the lands inhabited by Scandina- 



