SCI 
subterraneous in its habitation, like the last, 
and is also addicted to hoarding, for winter, 
nuts and grain. It is distinguished, how- 
ever, from every other species, by being 
provided with bags or pouches attached to 
its cheeks, in which, for the convenience of 
carriage, it can deposit large quantities of 
food, to take home w'ith it after having 
swallowed a full meal. These squirrels 
abound in Siberia, amidst the woods of ma- 
ple and fir, at the roots of which they make 
their burrows. They never mount trees, 
but when they have no other means of escape 
from an enemy, yet then they climb them 
with great celerity. They are very discri- 
minating in their selection of food, and 
have been seen frequently to exchange car- 
goes contained in their pouches, for a spe- 
cies of food which they casually and unex- 
pectedly met with, and which they happen- 
ed to prefer to the former. They retain 
in captivity much of their native wildness, 
and appear to evince no feelings of regard 
to their protectors. 
S. volans, or tlie common flying squirrel, 
is the only one of that description in Eu- 
rope, and is found there only in the coldest 
climates. In the north of Asia it occurs 
more frequently. Its colour above is a white 
grey, and beneath a perfect white. It is 
about six inches in length to the tail. It 
resides generally in hollow trees near the 
top, is solitary in its habits, associating even 
in pairs only in the spring. It feeds princi- 
pally on the catkins of the birch, and in 
winter secludes itself ifl its nest, occasion- 
ally quitting it in fine weather. By means 
of an expansile furry membrane-'i-feaching 
from the ford feet to the hind ones, these 
animals are enabled to spring or fly to the 
distance of thirty or forty yards. Climbing 
bearlv to the top of one tree, it directs its 
movements always downwards, and by 
spreading this membrane as widely as pos- 
sible, with its fore feet extremely distant 
from each other, presents such a surface to 
the air beneath as gives it considerable 
buoyancy, and converts its elastic bounds 
into a species of flight. The membrane is 
also highly serviceable in cherishing the 
young ones, which are produced usually in 
May, and about three at a birth. See Mam- 
malia, Plate XVIII. fig. 4. 
S. petaurista, or the sailing squirrel, is an 
inhabitant of Java and the Indian islands, 
and can spring to an immense distance from 
tree to tree, by means of a membrane simi- 
lar to that of the preceding, which is ex- 
tremely thin in the middle, and thicker to- 
sco 
wards the extremities. Tliis is the largest 
of all tlie flying squirrels, and is eighteen 
inches long, exclusively of the tail. For 
the Barbary squirrel and the black squirrel 
see Blammalia, Plate XVIII. fig- 2. and 3. 
SCLERANTHUS, in botany, kmwel, a 
genus of the Decandria Digynia class and 
order. Natural order of Caryophillei Por- 
tulace®, Jussieu. Essential character : ca- 
lyx one-leafed, inferior ; corolla none ; seeds 
two inclosed in the calyx. There are three 
species. 
SCLERIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Blonoecia Triandria class and order. Es- 
sential character : male, calyx glume from 
two to six-valved, many-flowered, awnless : 
female, calyx from two to six-valved, one- 
flowered, awnless ; stigmas one to three ; 
seed nut subglobular, somewhat honey, 
coloured. There are nine species. 
^CLEROCARPUS, in botany, a genus 
of the Syngenesia Polygamia Frustranea 
class and order. Natural order of Dis- 
coideae. Corymbiferre, Jussieu. Essential 
character : calyx six-leaved, three exterior 
larger, like the leaves, three interior 
smaller, like scales, alternate ; pappus none ; 
receptacle chaffy. There is only one spe- 
cies, viz. S. Africanus, a native of the Cape 
of Good Hope. 
SCLEROTICA, in anatomy, one of the 
ffinics, or coats of the eye ; it is hard, 
opaque, and extended from the cornea to 
the optic nerve ; its forepart is transparent, 
and called the cornea. 
SCOLEX, in natural history, a genus of 
the Vermes Intestina class and order : 
body gelatinous, variously shaped, broadish 
on the fore-part and pointed behind ; some- 
times linear and long, sometimes wrinkled 
and short, round, flexuous, or depressed ; 
head protrusile and retractile. Two species 
only are mentioned, viz. the pleuronectidis 
and lophii ; the former is found in the intes- 
tinal mucus of the turbot, sole, plaise, 
gwiniard, and the lump fish, seldom visible 
to the naked eye. The other, as its name 
denotes, is discovered in the intestinal 
mucus of the lophius piscatorius ; the 
body is minute, and hardly visible to the 
naked eye. 
SCOLIA, in natural history, a genns of 
insects of the order Hymenoptera : mouth 
with a curved sharp mandible, crenate 
within; jaw compressed, projecting, entire 
and horny ; tongue inflected, trifid, very 
short ; lip projecting, membranaceous at the 
tip and entire-; four feelers equal and fili- 
