S E It 



S E R 



traft of the feeds is a very elegant aromatic fweet. Lewis. 

 See Seseli Seed. 



SERMUR, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Creufe ; 6 miles S.S.W. of Auzance. 



SERNA, La, a town of Spain, in the province ot 

 Leon ; 24 miles N. of Palencia. 



SERNANCHELLA, a town of Portugal, in the pro- 

 ■vince of Beira ; 19 miles S.E. of Lamesjo. 



SERNETTY, a town of Bengal ; "30 miles E.S.E. of 

 Calcutta. 



SERNICIUM, in ylncient Geography, a town of Italy, 

 on the route from Milan to Colonne, in pafTing through 

 Picenum, according to the Itinerary of Antonine, in whicli 

 it is marked between yhifdena Civil., and Boviamim Civit. 



SERNON, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Var; 7 miles N.W. of Grafle. 



SERNST, a town of Switzerland, in the canton of 

 Claris, near a river of the fame name ; 3 miles S. of 

 Claris. The river runs into the Sundbach at this place. 



SEROGLAZOVSKAIA, a fortrefs of Ruffia, m the 

 government of Caucafus, on the Volga ; 24 miles N.W. 

 of Aftrachan. 



SEROLZECK, a town of the duchy of Warfaw, at 

 the union of the rivers Narew and Bug ; 20 miles N. of 

 Warfaw. 



SERON, a town of Spain, in the province of Grenada ; 



7 miles W. of Piirciiena. 



Seron of Ahnonds, is the quantity of two hundred weight ; 

 of anife-feed, it is from three to four hundred ; of Cailile 

 foap, from two hundred and a half to three hundred and 

 three quarters. 



SERONGE, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 the Malwa country, celebrated for its manufafture of printed 

 cottons and chintzes ; 132 miles N.E. of Ougein. N. lat. 

 24"^ 5'. E. long. 78° 4'. 



SEROOR, a town of Hindooftan, in Dowlatabad ; 24 

 miles S.S.W. of Amednagur. 



SEROS, Los, a town of the ifland of Cuba; 38 miles 

 N. of Trinidad. 



SEROSITY, the watery part of the blood, or ferum. 

 See Blood. 



SEROTA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Pannonia, 

 between Lentuli and Mariniaiix. 



SEROUGE, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, 

 in the province of Diarbekir ; 80 miles S.W. of Diarbckir. 



SEROWRA, a town of Hindooftan, in Oudc ; 4 miles 

 N. of Lucknow. 



SERPA, a town on the E coaftof the ifland of Corfu ; 



8 miles N. of Corfu. — Alfo, a town of Portugal, in Alcn- 

 tejo, containing two cluirchcs, and about 4000 inhabitants ; 

 12 miles S.W. of Mourao. 



SlvKTA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Hifpania, in 

 Boetica, on tile left of tlie river Anas, and nearly E. of 

 Pax-Julia. 



SERPEGER, in the Manege, was ufed to denote the 

 riding a horle in the Terpentine way, or in a tread with 

 waved turnings like the polture of a ferpcnt's body ; but 

 is now become obfolcte. 



SERPENTARA, in Geography, 

 the E. coall of Sardinia. N. lat, 

 lo" 2'. 



SERPENTARIA, in Botany, a name api^lied by the 

 older botiuiical and medical writers, to various plants, cither 

 on account of the fcrp'Mit-like fm-m of their roots, as in 

 Polygonum Bijlorta, their fpolted ftems, as in Arum Dra- 

 cunculus, or (ome other fanciful refembhince. Tiie fame 

 name lias likewife been given to plants fuppofed to cure the 



a fmall 

 39° 18'. 



ifland near 

 E. long. 



bites of ferpents, as Arijlohchia Serpentaria, or Virginian 

 Snake-root. For a fimilar reafon certain fpecies of Plan- 

 tago have been denominated Serpentina. 



SERPENTARIUS, in AJlronomy, a conftellation of 

 the northern hemifphere, called alfo Ophiuchus, and anciently 

 JEfculapius. 



The rtars in the conftellation Serpentarius, in Ptolemy's 

 catalogue are 29; in Tycho's, 15 ; in Hevelius's, 40; in 

 the Britannic catalogue, they are 74. See Constella- 

 tion. 



SERPENTES, Serpents, in Zoology, the fecond order 

 in the Linman clafs Amphibia, wliich are thus commonly 

 charafterized : they are footlefs ; their eggs are connected 

 in a chain ; tlie penis is double, and muricate. 



Thefe animals are fufliciently dillinguiflied from reptiles 

 by their total want of feet, moving by the afTillance of their 

 fcales, and their general powers of contortion. The dif- 

 tinftion of fpecies in this numerous tribe is, according to 

 Dr. Shaw, frequently very difficult. Linnxus thought that 

 an infallible criterion might be found in the number of fcaly 

 plates on the abdomen, and beneath the tail ; and accord- 

 ingly attempted, m the Syifema Naturas, to dilcriminate 

 the fpecies by this mark alone. This is now found to be, 

 by much, too uncertain and variable for a fpecific teft. The 

 colour is indeed frequently variable, but the pattern, or 

 general diftribution of markings in each fpecies, appears to 

 be more conftant ; the relative fize of the head, the length 

 of the body and tail, the fize, imoothnefs, or roughnefs of 

 the fcales, as well as their fhape in different parts of the 

 animal, often afford tolerably certain fpecific marks. 



The diitinftion of ferpents into poilonous and innoxious, 

 can only be known by an accurate examination of their 

 teeth ; the fangs, or poifoning teeth, being always of a tu- 

 bular ftrufture, and calculated for the conveyance or injec- 

 tion of the poifonous fluid from a peculiar relervoir, com- 

 municating with the fang on each fide of the head : the 

 fangs are always fituated in the anterior and exterior part of 

 the upper jaw, and are generally, but not always, of much 

 larger fize than the other teeth ; they are alfo frequently 

 accompanied by fome Imaller or fubfidiary fangs, apparently 

 deitined to fupply the principal ones, when loft either by 

 age or accident. The fangs are fituated in a peculiar bone, 

 fo articulated with the reft of the jaw, as to elevate or de- 

 prefs them at the pleafure of tiie animal. In a quiefcent 

 ilate, they are recumbent, witli their ])oints diredled in- 

 wards or backwards ; but when the animal is inclined to life 

 them as weapons of offence, their polition is altered by the 

 peculiar mechanifm of the above-mentioned bone, in which 

 tliey are rooted, and tiiey become almoft jierpendicular. 



A general rule for the determination of the exiftence or 

 non-exiflence of thefe organs, in any fpecies of ferpent, was 

 propofed by Dr. Gray, in the Tranfaftions of the Royal 

 Society for the year 1788. According to this author, the 

 fangs may be dillinguiflied with great eafe, by the following 

 fimple method. When it is difcovered tiiat there is fomc- 

 thing like teeth in the anterior and exterior part of the upper 

 jaw, which iitu.iticni he conficlers as the only one in which 

 venomous fangs are ever found, let a pin, or other hard 

 body, be drawn from that part of the jaw to the angle of 

 tlie mouth. If no more teeth be felt in that line, it may be 

 fairly concluded that thofe firft difcovered are fangs, and 

 that the ferpent confequently is venomous: if, on the con- 

 trary, the teelh lirll difcovered be obferved not to ftand 

 alone, but to be only part of a complete row, it may aa 

 certainly be concluded that the ferpent is not venomous. 

 This rule, however, like moft otiier general rules, may have 

 its exceptions j and perhaps the molt legitimate tcft of real 

 9 fangs 



