3. (Zoöl.) (a) The second and largest of the four parts forming the upper surface of a thoracic segment
of an insect. It is preceded by the prescutum and followed by the scutellum. See the Illust. under Thorax.
(b) One of the two lower valves of the operculum of a barnacle.
Scybala
(||Scyb"a*la) n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. sky`balon dung.] (Med.) Hardened masses of feces.
Scye
(Scye) n. Arm scye, a cutter's term for the armhole or part of the armhole of the waist of a garment.
[Cant]
Scyle
(Scyle) v. t. [AS. scylan to withdraw or remove.] To hide; to secrete; to conceal. [Obs.]
Scylla
(Scyl"la) n. A dangerous rock on the Italian coast opposite the whirpool Charybdis on the coast
of Sicily, — both personified in classical literature as ravenous monsters. The passage between them
was formerly considered perilous; hence, the saying "Between Scylla and Charybdis," signifying a great
peril on either hand.
Scyllæa
(||Scyl*læ"a) n. [NL. See Scylla.] (Zoöl.) A genus of oceanic nudibranchiate mollusks having the
small branched gills situated on the upper side of four fleshy lateral lobes, and on the median caudal
crest.
In color and form these mollusks closely imitate the fronds of sargassum and other floating seaweeds
among which they live.
Scyllarian
(Scyl*la"ri*an) n. (Zoöl.) One of a family (Scyllaridæ) of macruran Crustacea, remarkable for
the depressed form of the body, and the broad, flat antennæ. Also used adjectively.
Scyllite
(Scyl"lite) n. (Chem.) A white crystalline substance of a sweetish taste, resembling inosite and
metameric with dextrose. It is extracted from the kidney of the dogfish the shark, and the skate.
Scymetar
(Scym"e*tar) n. See Scimiter.
Scypha
(||Scy"pha) n.; pl. Scyphae [NL.] (Bot.) See Scyphus, 2 (b).
Scyphiform
(Scy"phi*form) a. [L. scyphus a cup + -form.] (Bot.) Cup-shaped.
Scyphistoma
(||Scy*phis"to*ma) n.; pl. Scyphistomata Scyphistomæ [NL., fr. Gr. sky`fos a cup +
sto`ma the mouth.] (Zoöl.) The young attached larva of Discophora in the stage when it resembles a
hydroid, or actinian.
Scyphobranchii
(||Scy`pho*bran"chi*i) n. pl. [NL., from Gr. sky`fos a cup + bra`gchion a gill.] (Zoöl.)
An order of fishes including the blennioid and gobioid fishes, and other related families.
Scyphomedusæ
(||Scy`pho*me*du"sæ) n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. sky`fos cup + NL. medusa.] (Zoöl.) Same as
Acraspeda, or Discophora.
Scyphophori
(||Scy*phoph"o*ri) n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. sky`fos a cup + fe`rein to bear.] (Zoöl.) An order of
fresh-water fishes inhabiting tropical Africa. They have rudimentary electrical organs on each side of the
tail.
Scyphus
(Scy"phus) n.; pl. Scyphi [L., a cup, Gr. sky`fos.]
1. (Antiq.) A kind of large drinking cup, — used by Greeks and Romans, esp. by poor folk.
2. (Bot.) (a) The cup of a narcissus, or a similar appendage to the corolla in other flowers. (b) A
cup-shaped stem or podetium in lichens. Also called scypha. See Illust. of Cladonia pyxidata, under
Lichen.
