S I M 
224 
—It is found in the Nile; the upper part of the head is 
greenish; the body above the lateral line is marbled with 
blackish and grey; the belly and lower jaw are of a reddish- 
grey ; the pectoral fins are transversely divided by a broad 
red band. 
22. Silurus batrachus.—Dorsal fin is single, and sixty- 
rayed.—It inhabits Asia and Africa: the tail entire. 
23. Silurus undecimalis.-—The dorsal fin is single, and 
eleven-rayed.—It inhabits Surinam: the tail is forked. 
24. Silurus catus.—Second dorsal fin fleshy, anal twenty- 
rayed.—It inhabits Asia and America. 
25. Silurus cous.—Second dorsal fin fleshy, and eight- 
rayed ; tail forked.—It inhabits Syria: the cirri are shorter 
than the head. 
26. Silurus docmac.—Second dorsal fin fleshy, anal ten- 
rayed. The length of the fish of this species is about three 
feet. It is of a grey colour, whitish beneath: the head is 
depressed; body convex above; mouth furnished with eight 
beards, the exterior ones of the upper lip extending half 
the length of the body; the lateral line is straight, and 
situated nearer the back than the abdomen; the first ray of 
the dorsal and anal fins long and serrated, with a soft tip.— 
It is a native of the lower Nile, towards the Delta. 
27. Silurus bajad.—Second dorsal fin fleshy, anal twelve- 
rayed. It is about a foot in length; the colour is glaucous; 
the head obtuse, depressed, and marked on each side, be¬ 
fore the eyes, by an unequal pit or depression; the upper 
jaw is longer than the lower; exterior beards of the upper 
lip very long : lateral line at first descending, then straight; 
above the pectoral fins on each side is a very strong spine, 
serrated in a reversed direction; the fins are rufous; the 
second dorsal or adipose fin is long; the tail is long, 
dilated towards the tip, and forked.—It is a native of the 
Nile. 
V.—-Without Cirri. 
28. Silurus cornutus.—First ray of the first dorsal fin serrate; 
pectoral unarmed. It is not more than eight or nine inches 
long; the shape is oval; body carinated beneath; the snout 
is straight, compressed, a little recurved at the tip, and about 
half the length of the body; the first ray of the first dorsal 
fin extending as far as the middle of the tail, and serrated 
beneath for about half its leugth.—It is a native of the 
Mediterranean. 
29. Silurus imberbis.—The gill-covers with two spines 
on the hind part.—It inhabits Japan, and is about six inches 
long; the body is funnel-shaped, and coated with scales.— 
It is a native of the Indian and South American rivers. 
Silurus is also a name given by some authors to the 
sturgeon, called by others accipmser. 
SILYBUM, in Botany, a name borrowed from Dioseo- 
rides, whose o-(%v/3oy is described as a large kind of thistle, 
eatable when young, if dressed with oil and salt. Gaertner, 
has applied the name to a genus of his own, under which 
he brings together Carduus marianus and Cnicus cernuus 
of Linnaeus. 
SIMA, or Cyma, in Architecture, a term used by Wol- 
fius, and some other writers, for what we otherwise call 
cymatium, or simatium. 
SIMABA, in Botany, the name of a shrub in Guiana, 
described by Aublet, 400. t. 153; for which, being bar¬ 
barous, Schreberhas substituted Zwingera; see that article. 
SI'MAGRE, s. [ simagree , Fr. “ a wry mouth, or filthy 
face, the countenance of a jester or clown in a play, made 
to provoke laughter; also an hypocritical look.” Cotgrave.'] 
Grimace: used by Dryden but not adopted. 
The Cyclops—felt the force of love,— 
Assum’d the softness of a lover’s air; 
Now with a crooked sithe his beard he sleeks, 
And mows the stubborn stubble of his cheeks; 
Now in the chrystal stream he looks, to try 
His simagres, and rolls his glaring eye. Dryden. 
SIMANA, a small river of South America, in New Gra¬ 
nada, and province of Santa Martha, which enters the Rio 
Magdalena. 
S I M 
SIMANCAS, a small town in the north of Spain, in the 
province of Valladolid, situated on an eminence where the 
river Pisuerga falls into the Douro. It has a castle, in 
which, on account of its strength, the ancient archives of 
Castile are kept. It is a place of antiquity. The Moors 
received a signal defeat here in 931, and took the town 
in 967. Population 1000; 15 miles south-west of Valla¬ 
dolid. 
SIMANCHI, a river of Quito, in the province of Jaen de 
Bracamoros, which unites itself with the Palanda to enter the 
Amazons. 
SIMAND, a village in the east of Hungary, in the pala¬ 
tinate of Arad. This village was formerly inhabited solely 
by blind and lame persons, who went about the country as 
singers, had a language of their own, and were free of all 
taxes. This singular community was tolerated so late as 
the middle of the 16th century; 18 miles south-south-east of 
Gyula. 
SIMA'R, s. A robe. 
The ladies dress’d in rich simars were seen, 
Of Florence satin, flower’d with white and green. Dryden. 
SIMARA, a small river of Guiana, which runs east, and 
enters one of the arms by which the Orinoco runs into the 
sea. 
SIMARA, one of the smaller Philippine islands; 24 miles 
east of Mindanao. Lat. 12. 51. N. long. 121. 40. E. 
SIMARONA, a name given by the Spaniards in Ame¬ 
rica to a species of vanilla. See Vanilla. 
SIMAROUBA, orSiMARUBA, in Botany, is the bark of 
the roots of a tree, first imported into Europe in the year 
1713, but since botanically ascertained to be a species 
of the Quassia ; which see. 
SIMARUM MUSCULUS, a name given by some of the 
old writers to a muscle, called by the moderns the serratus 
magnus. 
SIMATIUM, or Simaise, in Architecture. 
Simatium and cymatium are generally confounded to¬ 
gether, yet they ought to be distinguished; the latter being 
the genus, and the former the species. 
Simatium, or sitna, camous, according to Felibien, is the 
last and uppermost member of grand corniches, called par¬ 
ticularly the great doucine, or gula recta ; and by the 
Greeks, epititheta. 
In the antique buildings, the simatium, at the top of the 
Doric corniche, is generally in form of a cavetto, or semi- 
scotia; as we see particularly in the theatre of Marcellus. 
This some modern architects have imitated; but, in the Ionic 
order, the simatium is always a doucine. 
The simatium, or doucine, then, is distinguished from 
the other kinds of cymatia, by its being camous or flat¬ 
nosed. 
SIMATLAN, a river of Mexico, in the province of Te- 
coantepec, which enters the Pacific Ocean, between the river 
Capalita and the port of Salinas. 
SIMBALATH, a name given by Avicenna and others to 
the spikenard, or nardus Indica. 
SIMBANI, a track of desert and wooded wilderness in 
Western Africa, extending north-east from the Gambia, and 
separating the kingdom of Woolly from that of Bondou. 
On the north it has the kingdom of Foota Torra, and on 
the south-west that of Tenda. The natives, in journeying 
through this desert, are accustomed to hang up scraps of 
cloth, as saphies, to secure a prosperous journey. 
SIMBING, a village of Ludamar, in Central Africa, on 
the frontier of Kaarta. From this place Major Houghton 
wrote his last letter, falling a victim soon after to the 
treachery and ferocity of the Moors. 
SIMBIRSK, a government or province of European Rus¬ 
sia, on the borders of Asia. It lies along both sides of the 
Wolga, being between 52. and 57. of north lat., having the 
government of Kasan on the north, and that of Saratov on 
the south. Its superficial extent is calculated at 30,000 
square miles; its population at 850,000. The latter are of 
various origin, consisting of Russians, Tartars of six or seven 
distinct 
