S I R 



S I R 



feathers from the wings of the fireiis, and formed them into 

 crowns, with which they adorned their own heads. This 

 defcription is, doubtlefs, founded on a literal explication of 

 the fable, that the firens were women who inhabited the 

 (hores of Sicily ; and who, by all the allurements of plea- 

 fure. Hopped paffengers, and made them forget their 

 courfe. 



The name, according to Bochart, who derives it from 

 the Phoenician language, implies a fongjlrefs : and hence, 

 it is probable, that in ancient times there might have been 

 excrllent fingers, but of corrupt morals, on the coaft of 

 Sicily, who, by feducing voyagers, gave rife to this fable. 

 The Argonauts are faid to have been diverted from the in- 

 chantment of their fongs, by the fuperior llrains of Orpheus : 

 Ulyil'es, however, had great difficulty in fecuring hirafclf 

 from feduftion. Circe prepares him for the conflict, by the 

 piflure and precepts defcribed in the Odyff. lib. xii. ver. 51. 



Some interpreters of the ancient fables will have the num- 

 ber and names of the three firens to have been taken from 

 the triple pleafure of the fenfes, wine, love, and mufic, 

 which are the three mod powerful means of feducing men ; 

 and hence, fo many exhortations to avoid the firen's fatal 

 fong. 



Probably it was hence that the Greeks fetched their ety- 

 mology of firen, viz. from cr-i»«, a chain ; as if there was 

 no getting free of their enticement. 



Others, who do not look for fo much myilery in the 

 fable, maintain that the firens were nothing but certain 

 ftraits in the fea, where the waves whirling furioufly around, 

 feized and fwallowed up veflels that approached them too 

 near. 



Lallly, others hold the firens to have been certain fhores 

 and promontories, where the winds, by the various rever- 

 berations and echoes, caufe a kind of harmony that furprifes 

 and ftops paflengers. This, probably, might be the origin 

 of the firens' fong, and the occafion of giving the name of 

 firens to thefe rocks. 



The learned Mr. Bryant fays, that the firens were Cu- 

 thite and Canaanitifh priells, who had founded temples in 

 Sicily, which were rendered ir.famous on account of the 

 women who officiated. They were much addiAed to cruel 

 rites, fo that the (liores upon which they refided are de- 

 fcribed as covered with the bones of men, deftroyed by their 

 artifice. Virgil, iEneid, lib. i. v. 864. 



The ancients reprefent their fongs as fo fatally winning, 

 that nobody could withftand their fweetnefs : all were 

 foothed with it ; though their life was the purchafe of the 

 gratification. See Homer's Odyff. M. v. 39. 



Mr. Bryant obferves, that the ftory of the firens relates 

 to thofe people, who with their mufic ufed to entice ftran- 

 gers into the purlieus of their temples, and then put them 

 to death. Nor was it mufic only with which perfons were 

 feduced to follow them ; tlie female part of their choirs were 

 maintained for a twofold purpofe, both on account of their 

 voices and their beauty. They were accordingly very liberal 

 of their favours, and by thefe means enticed fea-faring per- 

 fons, who paid dear for their entertainment. Analyfis of 

 Ancient Mythol. vol. ii. p. 17, &c. 



' Sir.EN, in Ichthyology, a name given by Artedi to the 

 fea-monfter often defcribed by authors, but either not exit- 

 ing at all, or not fo like man as their defcription makes it. 

 Artedi fiippofes it to conilitute a peculiar genus of the 

 plagiuri or cetaceous fifhes. The characters he gives of it 

 are thefe : it has no pinnated tail ; the head, neck, and 

 breaft, down to the navel, reprefent thofe of the human 

 fpecies ; there are only two fins on the whole body, and 

 thofe ftand on the brcalf. 



Bartholinc, in his Hillory of Curiofitics, defcribes fuch 

 a fifh as this under the name oi fyrene, and Barchewitz under 

 the name of homo mnrinus. See Mermaid, SzA-Calf, Sea- 

 Cow, and Se v-7I/an. 



Siren, in Natural Hiflory, a genus of tlie clafs and order 

 Amphibia Reptilia, nf which the generic charafter is. Body 

 two-footed, tailed, naked ; the feet are placed in the manner 

 of arms, and furnifhed with claws. There is only a fingle 

 fpecies mentioned by Gmelin, but Dr. Siiaw notices three 



Species. 



Lacertika. Body eel-fliaped ; branchia ramified. This 

 fpecies Hands eminently diitingnifhed in the lill of animals, 

 by the ambiguity of its charafters, which are fuch as to 

 have induced the great Linnieus to inflitute it for a new 

 order of Amphibia, under tlie title of Meantes. The 

 genus with which the firen has the neareft affinity is the 

 lacerta, or lizard ; which fee. It refcmbles the larva, or 

 firft ftate of a lacerta ; and it is even itill doubtful whether 

 it may not really be fuch : yet it has never been obferved in 

 any other ftate, having two feet only, without any appear- 

 ance of a hind pair. The feet are alfo furnifhed with claws, 

 whereas the larvas of the lacerta are obferved to be without 

 claws ; the mouth has fcveral rows of fmall teeth ; the body 

 is eel-fhaped, but fligiitly flattened beneath, marked on the 

 fides by feveral wrinkles, and flightly comprefTed towards 

 the extremity of the tail, which is edged with a kind of foft 

 fiviii, or adipofe fin ; on each fide the neck are three ramified 

 branchial procefTes, refembling, but on a larger fcale, thofe 

 belonging to the larvas of water-newts, and at the bafe are 

 the openings into the gills ; the eyes are very fmall, and 

 blue. The general colour of the animal is a deep or blackifh- 

 brown, fcattered over, efpecially on the fides, with nu- 

 merous minute whitifli fpecks. It is frequently found of 

 the length of two feet, or even more. It is a native of 

 North America, and more particularly of South Carolina, 

 where it is not uncommon in muddy and fwampy places, 

 living generally under water, but fometimes appeariag on 

 dry land. It has a kind of fqueaking or finging voice ; 

 hence it was diftinguifhed by the name of fireji. This 

 curious animal was firfl difcovered and defcribed by Dr. 

 Garden, who refided many years in Carolina, and who gave 

 the Htmoft attention to the fcienc^ of natural hillory, which 

 he enriched by many highly intereiling obfervations, and by 

 the difcovery of many new faftp. The doftor communi- 

 cated fpecimens of the firen to Linnscus, with particulars 

 relative to its hiflory and manners. The great Swedifh na- 

 turalift, in his letter to Dr. Garden on this fubjeft, declares 

 that nothing had ever exercifed his thoughts fo much, nor 

 was there any thing he fo much defired to know, as the real 

 nature of fo extraordinary an animal. Mr. Hunter has 

 given an anatomical defcription of the firen in the 56th vol. 

 of the Philofophical Tranfadlions, to which the reader is 

 referred. 



The firen, if thrown on the ground with any degree of 

 violence, will fometimes break in two or three pieces ; and 

 in this particular it refembles the Anguis fragihs, or (low- 

 worm. It may alfo be obferved, that though in fomc re- 

 fpefts it refembles the larva of the lizard, yet no hzard, of 

 which it may be fuppofed the larva, has ever yet been dif- 

 covered in thofe parts of Carohna where it is mofl frequent. 

 The fpecies to which it feems mofl allied is the Lacerta 

 tcgui ;n of LinnsEUS, which is a native of South America. 



Anguine ; Four-footed firen, with eel-fhaped body, and 



ramified branchiae. This has been denominated the Proteus 



anguinus by fome naturalills, and by others the Aullrian 



fiien. This animal is found in a very fingular fituation, 



12 being 



