609 



SIUM. 



SKELETON, 



8!0 



dense hazel-nut calls forth greater energies', and when employed upon 

 one of those nuts, the bird makes the neighbourhood resound with 

 the strokes of its bill. Its call-note in the spring is a clear shrill 

 whistle. The nest is generally made with only a few dry leaves in the 

 hole of a tree, and the eggs, which are from five to seven iu number, 

 are of grayish-white spotted with reddish-brown. If the hole selected 

 be too large, the bird plasters up a part of it with mud, and will 

 renew the plaster if destroyed, whence one of its French names. 



The female, when surprised on the eggs or her young, makes a 

 most determined defence with bill and wings, hissing at the intruder 

 violently at the same time. It seems indeed to be a very attached 

 bird. The old French quatrain says 



" Le Torchepot ct sa femelle ensemble 



Vivent en paix tout le long dc 1'Kste. 



Parquoy 1'oa dit, quo qui est arreste 

 A son mesnage au Torchepot ressemblc." 



Of its bravery and courage when made captive, a painful story is 

 told in the ' Magazine of Natural History.' A Nuthatch had been 

 winged by a sportsman, and was put into a small cage made of oak 

 imd wire. During a night and day, the period of his confinement, 

 his tapping labour was incessant, and at the end of that time the 

 wood-work of his prison was pierced and worn like worm-eaten 

 timber. His impatience of his situation was excessive ; his efforts to 

 escape were unremitted, and displayed much cunning and intelligence. 

 He was fierce and fearlessly familiar, and voraciously devoured the 

 food pla'-ed before him. His hammering is described as having beeu 

 peouliai.y laborious, for he did not peck as other birds do, but taking 

 a firm grasp with his great feet, he turned upon them as upon a 

 pivot, striking with his whole weight, and thus assuming with his 

 body the appearance of the head of a hammer in motion. This 

 unfortunate bird sank at the close of the second day under the com- 

 bined effects of his vexation, assiduity, and voracity. The llev. T. L. 

 Bree mentions one which he caught in a common brick-trap : when 

 the bird was found, the bill appeared to be truncated, and he inferred 

 that it had been fairly ground down to about two-thirds of its original 

 length by the pecking of the bird at the bricks in its efforts to escape. 



This bird is an inhabitant of Europe generally. 



Mr. Gould describes and figures two other species, S. rupestris and 

 8. Aiiatica, in his ' Birds of Europe." 



The genus is found in India and America ; and there are closely 

 allied forms in the Indian Archipelago and in Australia. 



SIUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order UmbMlfera;. 

 The calyx possesses 5 teeth or is obsolete ; petals obcordate, with an 

 inflexed point, or entire and ovate ; fruit laterally compressed or con- 

 tracted, and subdidymous, crowned with the reflexed styles with their 

 depressed bases ; carpels with 5 equal filiform rather obtuse ridges, of 

 which the lateral ones are marginal ; interstices with one or many 

 vittae; seed subterete. The universal iuvolucre varies; the partial 

 one is composed of many leaves. 



>'. Xitarum, Skirret, ia the best-known plant of this genus. The root 

 is composed of fascicles of fusiform tub?rs ; stem terete ; leaves pin- 

 nate, upper ones ternate ; leaflets ovato-lanceolate, acute, serrated ; 

 involucre of 5 reflexed leaves ; commissure, according to Koch, with 4 

 vittao. It has white flowers. The tubers of the root are about the 

 Bize of the finger, and were formerly greatly esteemed in cookery, but 

 are now gone much into disuse. The French call this plant Cliervis, 

 the Germans Zucker-Wurzel, and in the nortl of Scotland, where 

 it is much eaten when cooked, it is called Crummock. It is a native 

 of China. 



,S'. nodiflorum, Fool's Water-Cress, or Procumbent Water-Par. p, 

 possesses a rooting, procumbent, striated stem ; pinnate leaves, oblong 

 equally serrated leaflets ; umbels sessile, opposite the leaves. It is a 

 native of Europe, iu ditches and rivulets, and is common in Great 

 Britain. A small and large variety are recorded, the one not attaining 

 more than three or four inches in height, the other as many feet. 



f>. latifolium, Broad-Leaved Water-Parsnip, has oblong-lanceolate 

 leaflets, equally serrate, pointed ; umbels terminal.. It is found in 

 ditches and watery places in Great Britain. 



X anrjuttifolium, Narrow-Leaved Water-Parsnip, has an erect stem ; 

 leaflets unequally lobed and serrated, umbels pedunculate, opposite to 

 the leaves. It is common iu Great Britain. 



SIVATHERIUM (from Siva, an Indian deity), a genus of extinct 

 animals belonging to the family Ele}ihanlid(r. The remains of species 

 of this remarkable genus were found by Dr. Falconer and Colonel 

 Cintley iu the valley of Mackanda, in the Sewalik Hills of the 

 Hiin.daya. 



Two species of this genus, S. giganteum and S. Perimente, have been 

 ibed. A cranium, lower jaw aud teeth, and bonos of the 

 extemities of S. giganteum are now in the British Museum. The skull 

 of thU animal is nearly as long as that of .the Elephant, the neck was 

 nhorter and stronger than in the Giraffe. The posterior portion of 

 the ukull is greatly developed, and formed of cellular cavities, as in 

 the Elephant. " The face is short, and the nasal bones are remarkable 

 fur the manner in which they are prolonged into a pointed arch above 

 the external nostrils, indicating a trunk, or proboscis. The very 

 inclined direction of the front of the face in relation to the triturat- 

 ing surface of the teeth, imparts a physiognomy altogether peculiar. 

 Two horn) arise from the brow between the orbits, and diverge from 



each other, and it is probable that the posterior protuberances of tha 

 forehead also supported a pair of short massive horns." (Mantell.) 



When living the Sivatherium must have resembled an immense Gnu, 

 or Antelope, with a short thick head surmounted with two pairs of 

 horns. The front pair of these horns were small, whilst those behind 

 were probably palmated. The eyes were small, and it had a nasal 

 proboscis, an orgau unknown amongst the Ruminantia. 



(Mantell, Petre factions and their Teachings ; Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society.) 



SKAPOLITH. [ScAi'OLiTE.] 



SKATE. [RAIID.E.] 



SKELETON (from <nceAo, ' I dry,') is the name applied to those 

 harder parts of organised bodies which form the framework upon 

 which the softer tissues are fixed. It is more particularly applied to 

 the collection of bones which in an animal either serve as fixed points 

 for the attachment of the soft parts, or form cavities for inclosing and 

 protecting important organs, or constitute the apparatus of support 

 and the passive instruments of voluntary motion. 



In this article we shall confiue ourselves to the description of the 

 bones as they are found iu the human body. In the article- VERTEBRA 

 will be found an account of the common plau of the Vertebrate 

 Skeleton of Man, in relation to the lower animals, as well as of the 

 plan on which the skeleton is constructed in the higher and lower 

 animals. 



The human skeleton is divided into three principal parts : the 

 Trunk (2), the Head (1), and the Extremities (3 and 4). Neither the 

 whole number of bones composing it nor that in each main division 

 can be exactly stated, for many which are iu early life separated, are 

 subsequently united ; but as an approximation, the following enume- 

 ration may be adopted: Cranium, 8; face, 14; internal ears, 8; 

 vertebral column, 24 ; chest, 26 ; pelvis, 11 ; upper extremities, 68 ; 

 lower extremities, 64 : in the whole, 223. 



Fig. 1. 



The Trunk is composed of the spine, or vertebral column (extend- 

 ing from a to d in the annexed Jiy. 2), the chest, including the ribs 

 aud sternum or breast-bone (c), and the pelvis, the circle of bones on 

 which the spine rests. The spine is the column of bones which, in 

 the erect posture, supports the head on its summit (a), and rests with 

 its base (d) upon the sacrum. It consists of 24 bones, called verte- 

 bra! (from ' verto,' I turn), because it is their motion upon each 

 other which enables the trunk to be turned round. Of the 24, the 7 

 upper (a b) are called cervical, the 12 middle (6 c) dorsal, and 

 the 5 lowest (c d) lumbar vertebra;. With the exception of the 



