Smyrna

“ I saw Hassan, the fisherman, getting his nets; and Ali Baba going off with his donkey to the great forest for wood. Smith looked at these wonders quite unmoved; and I was surprised at his apathy; but he had been at Smyrna before. A man only sees the miracle once: though you yearn after it ever so, it won't come again. I saw nothing of Ali Baba and Hassan the next time we came to Smyrna, and had some doubts (recollecting the [541] badness of the inn) about landing at all. ”

“ I offer to Hecate in the Sacred Grove. Take there a lamb, black as night, and honey of the rarest kind bear ye. Let the slaves dig a new pit, and place an altar therein, that all may be ready when I come. I leave the Temple gate when the watch tells out the hour before midnight. Merina and Smyrna shall accompany me to the confines of the grove.'
That night Chios quietly stole along under the stars until the old road to Smyrna intersected his path ”

“ It is not alone the parasitic and predaceous insects which are beneficial. A new industry has been brought into the United States during the past two years by the introduction and acclimatization of the little insect which fertilizes the Smyrna fig in Mediterranean countries. The dried-fig industry in this country has never [Pg 136] amounted to anything. The Smyrna fig has controlled the dried-fig markets of the world, but in California the Smyrna fig has never held its fruit, the young figs dropping from the trees without ripening. ”

“ The neighbourhood of Smyrna was delightful, and brigandage quite unknown. Civilization had not yet taught that refinement of the art, as practised nowadays, whereby people are carried off and called upon to get themselves ransomed, on pain of having their noses or ears, or finally their heads, cut off. ”

“ The inhabitants of Smyrna, who are well acquainted with the conjugal susceptibility of the male stork, amuse themselves by putting hens' eggs into the nests of these birds. The male becomes very angry at the sight of this unusual product, and, with the aid of other storks, tears his companion to pieces. There is certainly no need of calling up the numerous facts that show that domestication has, in certain animals, dogs, for example, developed these social instincts into a most touching devotion. ”

“ Babb went on; “and there’s people alive right over in Smyrna to-day that’ll tell you what they’ve seen with their two eyes. ’Tain’t no use for us to poo-hoo things that was before our time, just ’cause we didn’t see ’em. I tell you, the old sirs could do things we couldn’t, and Rudd was one of the best o’ the lot in the magickin’ line. One day down to Smyrna, in the Guild deestrick, he cast a mist on much as a dozen people at once, and they thought they saw a Braymy rooster of old Matherson’s haulin’ off a twenty foot log up street. ”

“ This proclamation having been made by the herald, the whole multitude both of the heathen and Jews, who dwelt at Smyrna, cried out with uncontrollable fury, and in a loud voice, "This is the teacher of Asia, [32] the father of the Christians, and the overthrower of our gods, he who has been teaching many not to sacrifice, or to worship the gods." Speaking thus, they cried out, and besought Philip the Asiarch [33] to let loose a lion upon Polycarp. But Philip answered that it was not lawful for him to do so, seeing the shows [34] of wild beasts were already finished. ”

“ I felt so bold as a lion that night, for Squire Champernowne, of Woodcotes, had died at dawn, and the countryside was all in a commotion, and I knowed, what with talking and drinking in the pubs and running about all day, that not a keeper would be to work after dark. A very good man had been the Squire, though peppery and uncertain in his temper, and quick to take offence, but honest and well-liked by all who worked for him. ”

“ Linden, as he put the disentangled cord in the hands of Mr. Simlins and himself in the saddle. "Now Miss Faith, you shall have a lesson in lynch-pins—s'il vous plaît."
"You do beat all!" said Squire Deacon looking up from under his hat, and with a voice that kept his eyes company.
Faith looked very pretty as she turned her horse in obedience to the intimation given her, with a somewhat demure smile and blush upon her face. Mr. Simlins looked, as well as the Squire, with a different expression. ”

“ Sciuridae.—The Squirrels, genus Sciurus, are world-wide in range, the Australian region and the island of Madagascar being alone excepted.
The eyes and the ears are large; the tail is of course long and bushy. The fore-feet have an inconspicuous thumb; the hind-feet have four toes. The soles of the fore-feet are naked or furry, those of the hind-feet are hairy. There are twelve or thirteen dorsal vertebrae, and in correspondence seven or six lumbars. The caudal vertebrae may be as many as twenty-five. In the skull the frontals are broad, and there are long postorbital processes. ”

“ Fig. 68.—Mysis, or the Opossum Shrimp.
Mysis is shrimp-like in general appearance but differs from Shrimps in the structure of the legs, in the absence of gills, and in other particulars.
The telson consists of five pieces. In each of the two inner and smaller pieces is an oval sac, like that described in the basal joints of the first antennae of the Prawn, containing a single lens-shaped otolith, consisting of chalky matter embedded in some organic substance.
‘The vibration of the hairs [in this sac] is mechanical, not depending on the life of the [136] animal. ”

“ Sciron is the chief of all the robbers. Do you see yonder castle among the mountains? That is where he lives, and thence he issues forth, when he wants food for his gluttony, to plunder and lay waste all the country round. And he is as cruel and savage as he is greedy. Not content with carrying off our cattle and our stores of corn and wine, he seizes men and women, and makes them wait upon him while he feasts; and when the feast is over, he amuses himself by throwing them from a high rock into the sea. ”

“ The bacula of North American sciurids are divisible into six distinct types represented by those of the genera Spermophilus, Marmota, Sciurus, Tamiasciurus, Eutamias, and Glaucomys.
The type of baculum in Spermophilus is spoonshaped with a ventral process that is spinelike or keellike. Also, spines usually are present along the margin of the “spoon.” The base (proximal end) of the baculum is broad, and some species have a winglike process extending dorsally and partly covering a longitudinal groove. The [Pg 550] shaft is more or less curved downward in the middle (see figs. 7, 10) . ”

“ The squire drinks first, and fills for the rest. Meanwhile the girl stands back under the hedge, away from the coffin which smells of new elm-wood. In imagination she pictures the man shut up there in close darkness, while the sunlight flows all outside, and she catches her breast with terror. She must turn and rustle among the leaves of the violets for the flowers she does not see. Then, trembling, she comes to herself, and plucks a few flowers and breathes them hungrily into her soul, for comfort. The men put down the pots beside her, with thanks, and the squire gives the word. ”

“ Simlins. "I'd like to know how much he's up to. I haint found it out yet."
"I tried him, sir," said the Squire, "I tried him with a classical story. Now Miss Faith gave in at once, and said she didn't know what it was; but t'other one made believe as though he knew all about it. And if a man aint classical, Mr. Simlins, what is he?"
"I aint classical," growled Mr. Simlins again, "but then I don't set up for to be. I s'pose that makes a difference, Squire; don't it?"
"Some people's more than they set out to be, and some people's less," replied the Squire. ”

“ Smyrnion Das Smyrnion, welches man in Kilikien Petroselinon nennt, wächst am meisten an dem Amanos genannten Berge. Auch dieses hat einen der Sellerie ähnlichen Stengel mit vielen Nebenzweigen; die Blätter sind breiter, zur Erde gebogen, etwas fettglänzend, kräftig, mit einer gewissen Schärfe wohlriechend, arzneikräftig und von schwach gelber Farbe. Die Dolde am Ende des Stengels ist wie beim Dill. Der Same ist rund, ähnlich dem des Kohls, schwarz, scharf, beim Kosten wie Myrrhe schmeckend, so daß das eine wie das andere wirkt. ”

“ Begging her to listen, Pan followed; and Syrinx, more and more frightened by the patter of his hoofs, never heeded him, but went as fast as light till she came to the brink of the river. Only then she paused, praying her friends, the water-nymphs, for some way of escape. The gentle, bewildered creatures, looking up through the water, could think of but one device.
Just as the god overtook Syrinx and stretched out his arms to her, she vanished like a mist, and he found himself grasping a cluster of tall reeds. Poor Pan! ”

“ The Squire of Cronane grasped the hand of the Squire of O'Shanaghgan, and the Squire of O'Shanaghgan looked up at the other man's weather-beaten face with a pathetic expression in his deep-set, hawk-like, dark eyes.
“I am bad, Murphy—very bad,” said the Squire; “it's killing me they are amongst them.”
“Why, then, it looks like it,” said Squire Murphy. “I never was in such a smotheration of a place before. Faix, then, why don't you have the window open, and have a bit of air circulating through the room?”
“It's forbid I am,” said the Squire. “Ah, Murphy! it's killing me, it's killing me.” ”

“ In the meantime, the four girls, led by Zerlina and her dog, were following the little stream in its capricious windings through the forest.
A squirrel darted in front of them with a flash of gray and jumped to the limb of a tree.
Zerlina made a sign for the girls to be silent. Then speaking to her dog in her own language, he sat down immediately on his haunches and never moved a muscle until she spoke to him again. She walked slowly toward the tree, where the squirrel sat watching them uneasily. A few feet off she paused and gave a shrill, peculiar whistle. ”

“ When a scirrhus affects any gland of no great extent or sensibility, it is, after a long period of time, liable to suppurate without inducing fever, like the indolent tumors of the conglobate or lymphatic glands above mentioned; whence collections of matter are often found after death both in men and other animals; as in the liver of swine, which have been fed with the grounds of fermented mixtures in the distilleries. Another termination of scirrhus is in cancer, as described below. ”

“ Simlins. "There's Mrs. Derrick—what does she say of him—he's in her house, she ought to have an idee. And Faith—now I'd take that gal's judgment on a most anything—What do they think about him, Squire?"
"Never asked 'em a word," said the Squire stoutly—"nor heard 'em say one, neither. But he gets fur'n letters all the time, Widow Stamp says—and female writin' too. Who knows but he's got a wife in some fur'n country?—or two"—added the Squire, without specifying where the plural belonged. "I'm a justice of peace, Mr. Simlins, and this shouldn't be let go on." ”

“ The Squire kissed them in turn—they approached him first as in duty bound. It had taken him three or four years to get used to their presence, and during that time he had treated them as the sort of unaccountable plaything a woman brings into a house and a male indulgently winks his eye at, a thing beneath his own notice, like a new gown or a new poodle, or a new curate, but one in which she must be permitted, in the foolish weakness of her sex, to interest herself. ”

“ Sciron rushed at him; but Theseus received him at the point of his sword, and the two fought furiously, while the robbers looked on, enjoying the game. Sciron was twice the size and weight of Theseus; but Theseus was the best swordsman in all Greece, and presently had him down.
“There,” said he, pricking Sciron’s throat with his sword, “you have had a lesson in manners. You shall wash my feet and wait on me before you go over the cliff after your victims. For I am not going away to leave a brigand like you alive behind me.” ”

“ The truth is, there is always air mixed in with water, and it is this air the larva breathes when the water goes in and out of the syringe. [Pg 19]
It uses the syringe for another purpose too. When it pleases it can shoot out the water with great force, and thus propel itself quite a distance.
By means of the syringe it can leap through the water faster than it can move by its slow-going legs.
Mollie wants to know if we can see the syringe.
No, it is inside the body.
But there is a kind of dragon fly that has a pair of gills outside, at the end of the abdomen, instead of the syringe inside. ”

“ He patted his little stomach with his paws. “What does it matter who suffers, if my skin is whole?”
“But your mind, Squirrie,” I said impatiently. “Even squirrels have something inside that isn’t all flesh. If I make another bird angry I feel nasty inside.”
“Squirrel minds don’t count,” he said airily, “my mother told me so. She said only bodies count.” ”

“ Specimens examined.—Seven, all from the type locality.
Remarks.—This squirrel is remarkable among the Natuna members of the S. notatus group for the brilliant color of its under parts. In this respect it surpasses all of the related forms with which I am acquainted. The red color is, however, strictly confined to the body, showing no tendency to spread to the tail as in S. miniatus of the Malay Peninsula.
SCIURUS RUBIDIVENTRIS sp. nov.
1894. Sciurus notatus Thomas and Hartert, Novitates Zoologicæ, I, p. 659. September, 1894 (part, specimens from Bunguran) . ”

“ THE old syringa at the foot of the Wade's lawn was rather a tree than a bush. Many years of growth had gone to the thickening of its interlaced boughs, which grew close to the ground, and made an impervious covert, except on the west side, where a hollow recess existed, into which a small person, boy or girl, might squeeze and be quite hidden. ”