S C Y 
S C Y 
SCYLL/EA, a genus of the vermes-mollusca class and 
order, whose Generic Character is—body compressed, and 
grooved along the back ; the mouth consists of a terminal 
toothless aperture; the tentacula or arms three on each side, 
and placed beneath. There are only two species. 
]. Scyllaea pelagica.—The body of this species is fixed; 
the four extreme arms are alike; the middle ones papil- 
lous.—It inhabits the ocean, and is generally found among 
floating sea-weed. Independently of its specific character, 
it is described as having a roundish oblong body ; broader 
behind, and obtuse; the mouth is placed at the end of 
the smaller extremity ; the back is grooved with a crenulate 
hollow, by which it affixes itself to sea-weed; the extreme 
arms are smaller and rounded ; the middle pair is oblong, 
foliaceous, bending over and sprinkled within with pa¬ 
pillae. 
2. Scyllaea gomphodensis.—The body is detached; the 
first pair of arms is naked and hollow at the tip ; the others 
have branched fibres within. The body is about an inch 
long, pellucid, yellowish, with rusty brown dots; the back 
is flat, doited with brown at the margins, with a row of blue 
dots down the middle ; the tail is compressed, with an 
elevated rounded back, and furnished on each side with 
small branched fibres; the abdomen is dotted with blue, and 
rougb, with a row of five whitish papillae down the middle 
of each side; the first pair of arms is the lesser; the rest are 
contiguous, with a denticulate margin. 
SCYLLEUM PROMONTORIUM, in Ancient Geo¬ 
graphy, the promontory of Scylla, or of Skilleo, that part of 
the Argolide which advances towards the south-east. 
SCYMNITiE, a people of Asiatic Sarmatia, between the 
Sapothrenae and the Amazons, according to Ptolemy. 
SCYMNUS, a name used by iElian and other old Greek 
writers, for a species of the squalus. 
SCYPHUS, among the Romans, a very large kind of 
drinking cup. The scyphus was called the cup of Her¬ 
cules, as that of Bacchus, liberi patris, was named can- 
tharus. 
SCYRA, in our Old Writers, a fine imposed on such as 
neglected to attend the scyregemot court , which all tenants 
were bound to do. 
SCYREGEMOT, or Scyremot, in Ancient customs, 
a county-court held twice every year by the bishop of the 
diocese and the earldorman, or sheriff; in which both the 
ecclesiastical and temporal laws were given in charge to the 
county. 
In the time of Canutus the scyregemot was held thrice 
every year. Edward the Confessor appointed it to be held 
twelve times in every year. 
SCYRIUM M ARMOR, a name given by the ancients 
sometimes to a white, and sometimes to a yellowish marble, 
both used in the public buildings of the Romans, but seldom 
in statuary, not being capable of a high polish. 
SCYTALA LACONICA, a stratagem or device of the 
Lacedaemonians, for the secret writings of letters to their 
correspondents ; so that if they should chance to be inter¬ 
cepted, nobody might be able to read them. 
To this end they had two wooden rollers, or cylinders, 
perfectly alike, and equal; one of which was kept in the 
city, the other by the person to whom the letter was directed. 
For the letter, a skin of very thin parchment was wrapped 
round the roller, and on this the matter was written ; which 
done, it was taken off, and sent away to the party, who, 
upon putting it in the same manner upon his roller, found the 
lines and words, which were before its application to the 
roller confusedly disjoined, and altogether unintelligible, in 
the very same disposition as when they were first written. 
PIut. in Vit. Li/sand. 
SCYTALE, in Zoology, the name given by the ancients 
to a species of serpent. 
SCYTALIA [so named by Gsertner, from o-kvIoi;, a skin, 
or hide, and oWaA^, a thong, in allusion to the leathery 
substance atjd colour of the skin of the dried fruit], in 
Botany, a genus of the class octandria, order monogynia, . 
Vol. XXII. No. 1547. 
885 
natural order of trihilatae, sapindi (Juss.j — Generic 
Character. Calyx: perianth inferior, of one leaf, very 
small, with five minute teeth. Corolla: petals five, small, 
reflexed, hairy on the inner surface, sometimes wanting. 
Stamina : filaments eight, sometimes but six, awl-shaped, 
hairy, longer than the petals, dilated at the base; anthers 
heart-shaped, incumbent. Pistil: germen superior, two- 
lobed, somewhat stalked; style shorter than the stamens; 
stigmas two spreading. Pericarp: berries two, ovate or 
globose, with a coriaceous warty coat, pulpy within, each of 
' one cell. Seed solitary, large, elliptical, polished, obliquely 
cut away at the base, where it is inserted into the slightly 
elevated bottom of the pericarp.— Essential Character. 
Calyx inferior, with five shallow teeth. Petals five, hairy, or 
none. Berries two, coriaceous, warty. Seeds solitary, 
elliptical, polished. 
1. Scytalia litchi, Lee-cheeor apetalous scytalia.—Flowers 
with six stamens, and no petals. Fruit with prominent 
warts.—Native of China, Cochinchina and Tunquin. The 
litchi is described by Sonnerat as a large tree, with a solt 
white wood, abounding in pith. The berry, usually solitary 
when ripe, is nearly globular, concave at the base, an inch 
or more in diameter, reddish, covered with very numerous, 
close, prominent tubercles. It is of an agreeable flavour, 
and said to be one of the best fruits of the countries where 
it grows. The Chinese dry it in ovens for exportation. 
2. Scytalia longan, longan or many-petailed scytalia.— 
Flowers with eight stamens and five petals. Fruit nearly 
smooth.—Native of China. Cultivated in that country, 
Cochinchina, the East Indies, the Mauritius, &c. This is 
also a large tree, with a sweet and grateful fruit, not half 
the size of the last, more precisely globular, and either quite 
smooth, or slightly scaly, not warty. Loureiro mentions 
two more species but they are uncertain. The same author 
relates, that the litchi, being impatient of cold, as well as of 
great heat, is most cultivated in the southern provinces of 
China, and the northern ones of Cochinchina. As the fruit 
will not ripen at Pekin in the ordinary way of cultivation, 
trees in flower are sent thither by water, so as to yield ripe 
fruit, for the emperor’s use, on their arrival. 
SCYTILE, [xKvOcu, Gr.] among the Athenians, a 
designation sometimes given to the officers, more usually 
called lexiarchi. 
SCYTHARION, a name given by the ancient Greek 
writers to a tree, whose wood was of a fine yellow colour, 
and was used in those early times to dye things yellow; it 
was called also Scythicum. 
SCYTHE, or Sithe, s. [jibe, Saxon.] An instrument 
for mowing; a crooked blade joined at nearly right angles 
to a curved pole. 
Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives, 
Live registred upon our brazen tombs; 
And then grace us in the disgrace of death: 
When, spight of cormorant devouring time, 
The endeavour of this present breath may buy 
That honour, which shall bate his scythe's keen edge: 
And make us heirs of all eternity. Shakspeare . 
To SCYTHE, or Sithe, v. a. To cut down with a scythe. 
—Time had not sithed all that youth begun. Shakspeare. 
SCYTHED, or Si'thed, adj. Armed with sithes. 
Galgacus’ scythed, iron car. 
That, swiftly whirling through the walks of war, 
Dash’d Roman blood, and crush’d the foreign throngs. 
Dr. War ton. 
SCYTHEMAN, or Si'theman, s. A mower.—Reapers 
cutting downe corne in every fielde; sithemen labouryng 
harde.' Peachman. 
The stooping sytheman, that doth barb the field. 
Thou mak’st wink sure ; in'night all creatures sleep. 
, Marston. 
SCYTHIA, is a vast territory, which has been confounded 
by some geographers with Tatary or Tartary, of which it is 
10 Q only 
