SIL 
of filth; and produces four or five young at a 
time. Cats frequently kill it; but they carefully 
abftain from eating it's flefh. Indeed, it's whole 
body emits a foetid and offenfive fmell ; and, from 
it's natural difa2;reeablenefs and deformity, feveral 
injurious qualities have been afcribed to it which 
it does not really feem to pofiefs. 
The inodcurfory obferver mayeafily diftinguifh 
it from the common mouie: it is fmaller in fize; 
it's nofe is much longer; it has five toes on the 
hinder as well as on the fore-feet; it's eyes are ex- 
tremely fmali ; it's claws are long and whitifh; 
and it's feet are fhort. 
Shrew-Mouse, Water ; the Sorex Fodiens 
of Pallas. This animal is much larger than the 
common Shrew. The upper part of the body 
and the head are black; the throat, breaft, and 
belly, are of a light afli-colour; and beneath the 
tail there is a triangular dufl<:y fpot. 
This fpecies inhabits Europe and Siberia; but 
was loft in England till 1768, when it was difco- 
vered in the Lincolnfhire fens. It burrows in the 
banks near the water, and is faid to fwim under 
the liquid element. It chirrups like the grafs- 
hopper; and, on account of the fmallnefs of it's 
eyes, has fometimes received the appellation of the 
blind moufe. 
SHRIKE. An Englifh appellation for the 
Lanius Excubitor of Linnsus. See Butcher- 
BlRD. 
Shrike, Red-Backed ; the Lanius Collurio of 
LinnfEus. See Flusher. 
SHRIiMP; the Cancer Grangon of Linnseus. 
An animal of the genus of cancer, though fome- 
times clafied under that of fquilla. It has Jong 
(lender feelers, and between them two projefling 
laminae; the claws have a fingle hooked move- 
able fang; it has three pair of legs; and feven 
joints in the tail. The middle caudal fin is fubu-- 
lated; and the four others are rounded and fringed, 
with a fpine on the exterior fide of each of the ex- 
tremes. 
This fhell-fiil"! inhabits the fandy fhorcs of Bri- 
tain in vaft abundance; and is reckoned the moll: 
delicious of all the genus. 
Shrimp, White; the Cancer Squilla of Lin- 
nsus. This fpecies has a Ihout like the prawn, 
but deeper and thinner; it's feelers are longer in 
proportion to it's bulk ; and the fub-caudal un- 
der-fins are fomewhat larger. It inhabits the 
Kentifh coafts. 
By aift of parliament. Shrimps are only to be 
caught in the Medway and Thames from Bartho- 
lomew-day to Good Friday; and red Shrimps in 
the river Medway only from the 25th of April to 
the rft of July. 
Shrimp, Fresh-Water. See Squilla. 
SHRITE. An appellation by which fome au- 
thors exprefs the ni'lTei-bird. 
SIC US, OR SICAB. A name by which the 
inhabitants of the Philippine iflands exprefs a 
fpecies of hawk, about the fize of the common 
hawk. This bisd is beautifully variegated with 
yellow, white, and black feathers. 
SICUS. An appellation by which fome ich- 
thyologifts exprefs that fpecies of the coregonus 
more generally denominated the albula nobilis. 
In the Linnrran fyftem, it is a fpecies of falmo. 
SICYANA. See Gourd-Worm. 
SILK-V/ORM. A fpecies of the phalsena ge- 
nus, confifting of eleven rings, and each of thefe 
of a cxreat number of fmaller ones united together ; 
SIL 
and the head, which terminates thefe rings, is fur- 
nifhed with two jaws, which work and cut the 
food, not by a perpendicular but lateral motion. 
Though fiik was anciently imported into Rome 
in fmall quantities, yet it was fo very fcarce as to be 
fold for it's weight in gold ; and was cohfidered as 
fuch a luxurious refinement in drefs, that it was 
deemed infamous for a man to appear in apparel 
of which filk conftituted but half the compofition. 
It was moft probably introduced at this period 
from the remoteft parts of the Eaft, fince it was 
then fcarcely known even in Perfia. 
Nothing can be more diftant from truth than 
the manner in which ancient hiftorians defcribc 
the animal from which filk is produced. Pau- 
fanias informs us, that filk came from the country 
of the Seres, a people of Afiatic Scythia ; in which 
region an infeft as large as the beetle, but in every 
other refpeft refembiing a fpider, was bred up for 
that purpofe. ' They take great care,' fays he, 
' to feed it, and to defend it from the weather, as 
well during the fummer's heat as the winter's ri- 
gour. This infeft,' continues he ' makes it's web 
with it's feet, of which it has eight. It is fed for 
the fpace of four years on a kind of pafte pre- 
pared for it. At the beginning of the fifth, it is 
fupplied with the leaves of the green willow, for 
which it fhews a particular predile6lion : it then 
feeds till it burfts with fat; after which they takd 
out it's bowels, which are fpun into the beautiful 
manufiilure lb very fcarce and coftly/ 
Such are the dreams of remote antiquity* In- 
deed, it appears that this animal was unknown 
among the Romans till the time of Juftinian : 
and it is fuppofed that Silk-Worms were not im- 
ported into Europe till the beginning of the 
twelfth century ; when Roger of Sicily brought 
workmicn in this manufafture from Afia Minor, 
after his return from his expedition to the Holy 
Land, and fettled them in Sicily and Calabria. 
From thefe the other European nations learned 
this manufafture; and it is now become one of 
the moft lucrative carried on in the fouthern pro- 
vinces of Europe. 
The Silk- Worm is now well known to be a 
large caterpillar of a whitifh colour, with twelve 
feet ; and to produce a butterfly of the moth kind. 
The cone on which it fpins is adapted for cover- 
ing it while in the aurelia ftate^ and feveral of 
thefe, properly wound olf, and united together, 
form thole ftrong and beautiful threads which are 
woven into filk. The feeding of the Worms, the 
gathering, the winding, the twifting, and the weav- 
ing of their filk, is one of the principal manufac- 
tures of Europe ; and as luxury feems daily to in- 
creafe, it's confumption is become amazingly 
great. 
Two methods have been adopted for breeding 
Silk-Worms: for they may be left to grow, and 
remain at liberty on the trees where they are 
hatched ; or they may be kept in a place built 
for that purpofe, and fed every day with frefli 
leaves. The former mode is ufed in China, Ton- 
quin, and other hot climates ; the latter in thofe 
places where the animal has been artificially pro- 
pagated, and ftill continues exotic. In the warm 
regions, the Silk- Worm proceeds from an egg, 
which has been glewed by the parent moth on a 
proper part of the mulberry-tree, and which re- 
mains in that fituation during winter. The man- 
ner in which thefe eggs are fituated and fixed to 
the tree, keeps them uninjured by the feverity of 
