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S C I R P U S. 



One of the usual modes of distinguishing 1 them is 

 by the number of the toei. Those which most nearly 

 resemble the skinks have five toes on all the feet, and 

 those on the hind feet of unequal length. Others, 

 with the same number, but the toes of equal length, 

 are the quadruped snakes of Linnaeus. Some have 

 four toes, but those with fewer than four are the most 

 characteristic members of the genus, however, as they 

 differ most from the skinks. We shall just notice two 

 of them. 



Three-toed Seps (S. tridactylus). This species has 

 the feet and toes remarkably small, and the latter 

 only three in number. The general colour is steel- 

 blue, having two longitudinal bands of white, with 

 blackish borders. It is by no means rare in many 

 parts of the south of Europe, and also in the opposite 

 part of the Mediterranean. Like all the rest of the 

 family, it is a perfectly harmless creature, but it is, 

 like them, regarded with very serious apprehensions 

 by the country people. Some are of opinion that 

 this seps is the " snake in the grass," the metapho- 

 rical allusion to which is so common. It is said to 

 lurk in the herbage, and to occasion the most 

 serious maladies to domestic animals, cattle especially, 

 when they happen to swallow it. It does not appear 

 that there is very much truth in this statement, 

 which has very much the appearance of the stories 

 of efts which are sometimes told with horror in the 

 country. See the article SALAMANDER. The autho- 

 rities say that this species is ovoviviparous, but it is 

 doubtful. 



One-toed Seps (S. monodaclylus). If this is any- 

 thing more than an imperfect specimen of the other, 

 it is a very singular creature. The feet are described 

 as being exceedingly short, with only one toe upon 

 each, and apparently of very little use as organs of 

 locomotion. The scales upon these are very small, 

 and those on the body and the tail are marked with a 

 sort of elevated crests. The specimens that have 

 been described are from Southern Africa. 



BIPES. These do not differ from seps in almost 

 any other respect than that of having only two feet, 

 and thus making a little nearer approximation to the 

 snakes. The anterior extremities consist of hardly 

 any more than a blade-bone, which is of course con- 

 cealed under the integuments ; the hind feet are also 

 but little developed, and in some they appear to 

 terminate in scaly plates, though, when examined 

 the usual bones are partially found, only there are no 

 phalanges to the toes. They are found in New 

 Holland, in Southern Africa, and in South America 

 They are perfectly harmless creatures, living in 

 mud and rubbish, and very little is known of their 

 habits. 



CHALCIDES. The distinguishing characters of this 

 genus are : the length of the body, as compared will 

 its thickness, the smallness of the feet, and the grea 

 distance between the fore ones and the hind. They 

 have very much the aspect of little serpents, bu 

 their scales are differently arranged from these, anc 

 even from the. more typical members of the presen 

 family. Instead of being imbricated, they are of a rec 

 tangular shape, and so ranged as to form rows across, in 

 the same manner as the scales on the tails of the tru< 

 lizards. They also, in this respect, bear some resem 

 blance to the Amphisbcena among snakes. This, in 

 fact, is nearly the limit of the saurian type ; and one 

 feels not a little puzzled how to refer from these 

 animals to others, so as to preserve anything like a 



gradation. There are many species of these most 

 larmless little creatures in the warm countries, but 

 Imost the only distinctions between one and another 

 are the numbers of toes on the feet. 



C. tetradactylus has, of course, four toes on the 

 eet, but the feet are so exceedingly short, that they 

 are hardly of any use to the animal in walking, 

 which thus creeps on the belly very much in the 

 manner of a snake, though it has not equal power in 

 the spine to help it onward in its march. It is only 

 about six inches in length ; indeed, the whole of the 

 enus are very small animals. They swarm in many, 

 of the warmer parts of the south of Spain, especially 

 in the beautiful valley of Andalusia. Others are 

 mentioned with three toes on the feet, and others 

 still with only one ; but it is highly probable that the 

 latter has been confounded with the one-toed seps 

 of Southern Africa, from which country the one-toed 

 specimens supposed to be referable to this genus 

 have also come. Some of the East Indian species 

 have four toes tolerably well made out upon all of 

 the feet ; and others, in tropical America, have these 

 organs so little developed, that it is not easy even to 

 count them. 



CHIROTES, or BIMANA. These have the character 

 of bipes in so far reversed, that they are without the 

 hind feet, while that genus is without the fore ones. 

 Only one species is known, found on the table land 

 of Mexico, which, as it is peculiar in its physical 

 character, is peculiar in many of its productions, and 

 especially so in its reptiles. 



Bimana canaliculata is about eight or ten inches in 

 length, and as thick as the little h'nger. It is flesh- 

 coloured, and marked with about twenty-two half 

 rings over the back, and as many on the belly, which 

 meet each other alternately on the sides ; it is on 

 this account that it is called canaliculated or channeled, 

 and, from the same markings, and also the colour, 

 it is called Lacerta lumbricoides, the worm-like 

 lizard ; but it is not a lizard, neither is it in any 

 respect like a worm. It has true fore feet, which are 

 very well made out in their bones ; they have blade- 

 bones, clavicles, and a small sternum ; and they end 

 in four toes, and a rudiment of a fifth. In this 

 part of its skeleton, therefore, it is organised like a 

 quadruped, but in all the rest it more resembles the 

 footless reptiles. Its tongue is but little extensile, 

 and cleft at the tip, and ending in two horny points ; 

 its eyes are very small ; and the tympanum of the 

 ear is so much concealed by the skin, as not to be 

 visible on the outside. There are two rows of pores 

 on the under part in advance of the vent. The 

 lungs make a nearer approach to those of the 

 serpents than those of any others of the Sauria. 

 They consist of one principal lobe, and of another 

 which is very small and rudimental. This may, in 

 fact, be considered as the last of the saurian reptiles, 

 at least in so far as structure is concerned, for we 

 know very little of its habits. That it feeds upon 

 insects is very well understood, but the mode in 

 which it gets at them is hardly known ; and we 

 have no knowledge whatever of the mode of its 

 reproduction. 



SCIRPUS (Dr. Brown). A genus of hardy bog 

 plants known in Britain by the name of club-rush. 

 The plants belong to Cyperacete. The S. tuberosus 

 is the water-chestnut of the Chinese and is cultivated 

 in that country. The roots of S. maritima are escu- 

 lent, and they have been ground and used as flour 



