586 



CreaSun? of Datura! Distort) ; 



described by Dr. Richardson in his ' Fauna 

 Boreali- Americana :' the mouth, armed 

 with long sharp teeth, is cleft far past the 

 eyes, which are close to the very short 

 pointed snout. The gill-openings, having 

 the form of irregular slits, and large enough 

 to permit the three branchiae to be seen, are 

 under the very small pectorals. The skin 

 is soil, slimy, loose, and slightly granular 

 in appearance. The extensibility of the 

 jaws and throat is extraordinary, being even 

 greater than that exhibited by the serpent 

 tribe. Only two examples of the genus are 

 known to have been taken, and, with the 

 exception of dimensions, they realise many 

 of the popular accounts of the great Ame- 

 rican sea-serpent. They are voracious fish, 

 with a capacious stomach and short straight 

 gut. One of the specimens had recently 

 before its capture swallowed a fish longer 

 than its own body, and the other had appa- 

 rently exhausted itself in vain attempts to 

 gorge a sea-perch thicker than itself. The 

 individual described by Dr. Harwood (Soc- 

 copharynx ampullaeeus), measuring four feet 

 and a half in length, was captured in the 

 entrance of Davis' Strait, by Capt. Sawyer, 

 of the ship Harmony ; the other (Saccopha- 

 rynx diordatiis), which was six feet long, 

 was taken by Capt. Hector Coffin, about 

 midway between the Labrador coast and 

 Ireland, in the fifty-second parallel of lati- 

 tude. 



SAGO IN, or SQUIRREL MONKEY. 

 The little animals belonging to this group 

 are extremely light, active, and graceful in 

 their movements, as well as elegant in their 

 forms. They use their tail as a protection 

 against cold, to which they are acutely sen- 

 sitive. Their food chiefly consists of insects, 

 eggs, and small birds. 



SAJOU. A lively and active Monkey, of 

 the genua Cebus ; docile, but somewhat ca- 

 pricious. It has a prehensile tail, though it 

 is not so delicate an organ of touch as in 

 some other species. In their native forests 

 they live in troops ; feeding on fruits, grain, 

 eggs, &c. [See MONKEYS.] 



SAKI. A monkey belonging to the genus 

 Pithecia, and called the Fox-tailed Monkey. 

 These animals usually reside in the outskirts 

 of forests, in small societies of ten or twelve 

 individuals. Upon the slightest provocation 

 they display a morose and savage temper ; 

 and, like the Howlers, they utter loud cries 

 before sunrise and after sunset. 



SALAMANDER. (Salamandra.) A 

 genus of reptiles, closely allied to the frog, 

 but differing from it in having an elongated 

 body, a long tail, and four feet of equal 

 length. They have the general form of 

 lizards, but have all the characters of Batra- 

 chians, and have therefore been removed 

 from the genus Lacerta, where Linnseus had 

 placed them. The head is flattened ; the 

 jaws are armed with numerous small teeth ; 

 and there are two longitudinal rows on the 

 palate. The young are born in the shape of 

 tadpoles, are provided with gills, and have 

 their tails vertically compressed. In the 

 adult state they respire in the same manner 



as frogs and tortoises. The terrestrial Sa- 

 lamanders inhabit the water only during 

 the tadpole state, or during the time that 

 they are laying their eggs : they are distin- 

 guished by a rounded tail. The aquatic 

 species remain during life in water, and are 

 enabled to swim with considerable briskness 



by means of their compressed tails. They 

 possess the most extraordinary powers of 

 reproducing their parts ; renewing, many 

 times successively (according to the expe- 

 riments of Spallanzani), the same mem- 

 ber after it had been severed, and this 

 with all its bones, muscles, vessels, &c. An- 

 other faculty, not less singular, consists (as 

 shown by Dufoy) in their recovering after 

 having been long frozen up in ice. 



The COMMON SALAMANDER of Europe 

 (Salamaitdra vulgaris) is a sluggish, clumsy 

 reptile, six or eight inches long, of a black- 

 ish colour, with large, irregular, rounded 

 spots of bright yellow. It is found in moist 

 places, under stones or the roots of trees, 

 near the borders of springs, iu deep woods, 

 &c., and passes its life under ground, except 

 during rains or at night, when it comes out, 

 but does not wander far from its place of 

 residence. It lives on slugs, insects, worms, 

 &c. ; does not appear to shun the presence 

 of man or other animals ; is oviparous ; 

 and exudes a mucous and acrid secretion in 

 great abundance. Among the most absurdly 

 ignorant of all popular superstitious, was 

 that which ascribed to this poor reptile the 

 power of subsisting in the fire : and how the 

 idea could ever have originated appears 

 truly wonderful, when all the haunts and 

 habits of the animal are connected with 

 cold and moisture. There are a variety of 

 species found both in North and South 

 America. 



SALLOW [MOTHS]. A name given by 

 collectors to Moths of the genus Xantiiia. 



SALMO. A genus of Malacopterygious 

 fishes, containing many species, most of 

 which are highly prized as food; among 

 these we may specify the 



