Internal and external features of a snake.
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Snake River River, northwestern U.S. It is the largest tributary of the Columbia River and one of the most important streams in the Pacific North¬ west. It rises in the mountains of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and flows south and west through Idaho, turning north at the Oregon bor¬ der to enter the Columbia in southeastern Washington after a course of 1,040 mi (1,670 km). The lower Snake flows through Hells Canyon, the deepest river gorge in North America. See photograph above.
snakebird See anhinga
snakebite Wound from the bite of a snake, especially a venomous one. Nonvenomous snakes leave skin tears that may be treated like scratches. A person bitten by a venomous snake needs medical care as soon as pos¬
sible. Antivenin must be specific to the type of venom, so the snake should be identified or accurately described. Different kinds of venom break down red blood cells or attack the nervous system, causing paralysis. Local tissue destruction may lead to gangrene. First aid for snakebite seeks to keep the venom from spreading to the rest of the body. The bitten limb should be kept still below heart level with a broad, firm (not tight) bandage around it above the bite. Exertion and excitement should be avoided. Cutting, suction, tourni¬ quets, and applying ice are not advised.
snapdragon family Family Scrophulariaceae, containing about 4,000 species of flowering plants in 190 genera, found worldwide. The family is notable for its many orna¬ mental garden plants, including snapdragon ( Antirrhinum species) and foxglove. Antirrhinum contains about 40 species native to western North America and the western Medi¬ terranean. Other members of the family, including butter-and-eggs, are wildflowers. Flowers of the family are tubular and bilaterally symmetri¬ cal (two-lipped).
snapper Any of about 250 species of valuable food fishes (family Lut- janidae), found throughout the trop¬ ics. These active schooling fishes have slender bodies, large mouths, sharp canine teeth, and blunt or forked tails. Many species grow to 2-3 ft (60-90 cm) long. Snappers eat crustaceans and other fishes. Some species, such as the Atlantic dog snapper, contain a toxin. The red snapper, a bright red fish, inhabits deep Atlantic waters. The emperor snapper is a red-and-white Indo- Pacific fish. The Atlantic yellowtail snapper has a broad yellow stripe from the nose to the wholly yellow tail.
snapping turtle Either of two species (family Chelydridae) of edible, omnivorous, freshwater turtles found in North and Central America. They are tan to black and have a rough upper shell, a small cross-shaped lower shell, a long tail, and a large head with hooked jaws. Known for their fierceness, they lunge at aggres¬ sors and prey and bite them with their powerful jaws. The common snapping turtle ( Chelydra serpen¬ tina) has a shell 8-12 in. (20-30 cm) long and weighs 10-35 lbs (4.5-16 kg). The alligator snapping turtle (Macroclemys temmincki), the larg¬ est freshwater turtle in the U.S., has a shell 16-28 in. (40-70 cm) long and weighs 40-155 lbs (18-70 kg). It lies quietly on the bottom of slow moving bodies of water, luring fishes by means of a wormlike append¬ age on the floor of its open mouth.
Snead, Samfuel Jackson) (b. May 27, 1912, near Hot Springs, Va., U.S.—d. May 23, 2002, Hot Springs) U.S. golfer. Snead reportedly never took a golf lesson. Known for his straw hat and his flowing, powerful swing, “Slammin’ Sam” won the PGA Championship (1942, 1949, 1951), the British Open (1946), and the Masters (1949, 1952, 1954) and was a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team (eight times—including 1969, when
The lower Snake River in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, between Oregon and Idaho.
GREG VAUGHN/TOM STACK & ASSOCIATES
Red spot snapper (Lethrinus variegatus)
DOUGLAS FAULKNER
Snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
WALTER DAWN
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1774 I Snell's law ► snowdrop
he captained the squad but did not play). Snead won more PGA tourna¬ ments (82) than any other player in history, and his total number of world tournament wins is estimated at 135.
Snell's law Relationship between the path taken by a ray of light as it moves from one medium to another and the refractive indices of the two media. Discovered in 1621 by Willebrord Snell (1580-1626), the law went unpublished until its mention by Christiaan Huygens. If n x and n 2 represent the indices of refraction of two media, and 0 X and 0 2 are the angles of incidence and refraction that a ray of light makes with the line perpendicular to the boundary (the normal), Snell’s law states that n l /n 2 = sin 0 2 /sin 0j. Because the ratio nfn 2 is a constant for any given wave¬ length of light, the ratio of the two sines is also a constant for any angle.
snipe Any of about 20 species of birds (family Scolopacidae) that fre¬ quent wet meadows and marshes in temperate and warm regions world¬ wide. They are short-legged and chunky, with brown, black, and white stripes and bars. The wings are pointed and angular. The long, flex¬ ible bill is used to probe mud for worms. The common snipe ( Gallin - ago gallinago) is about 12 in. (30 cm) long, including the bill.
snook Any of about eight species (genus Centropomus) of tropical marine fishes that are long and sil¬ very and have two dorsal fins, a long head, and a large mouth with a pro¬ jecting lower jaw. They are found along the North and South American Atlantic and Pacific coasts, often in estuaries and among mangroves and sometimes in fresh water. They range from 1.5 to 5 ft (0.5-1.5 m) long and are valued for food and sport.
snooker Variation of English billiards. It is played with 15 red balls and 6 variously coloured balls. Snooker arose, probably in India, as a game for soldiers in the 1870s. Players try to pocket first the red and then the nonred balls, scoring one point for each red ball and the number value of the others. “Snooker” refers to the position of the cue ball when it can¬ not hit a required ball.
Snorri Sturluson Vsnor-e-'stUer-luB-soM (b. 1179, Iceland—d. Sept. 22, 1241, Reykjaholt) Icelandic poet, historian, and chieftain. Of an influen¬ tial family, Snorri became the “lawspeaker,” or president, of the Icelan¬ dic high court and a vassal of King Haakon IV of Norway. He was the author of the Prose Edda and the Heimskringla, a history of Norwegian kings. His writings are remarkable for their scope and formal assurance; his genius lay in his power to present all that he perceived as a historian with the immediacy of drama. His relations with Haakon deteriorated, and he was assassinated on the king’s order.
snout beetle See weevil
snow Solid form of water that crystallizes in the atmosphere and falls to the Earth, covering about 23% of the Earth’s surface either permanently or temporarily. Snowflakes are formed by crystals of ice that generally have a hexagonal pattern. Snow cover has a significant effect on climate and on plant, animal, and human life. By increasing the reflection of solar radiation and interfering with the conduction of heat from the ground, it induces a cold climate. The low heat conduction protects small plants from the effects of the lowest winter temperatures; on the other hand, late disappearance of snow in the spring delays the growth of plants.
Snow, C(harles) P(ercy) later Baron Snow (of the City of Leicester) (b. Oct. 15, 1905,
Leicester, Leicestershire, Eng.—d.
July 1, 1980, London) British novel¬ ist, scientist, and government admin¬
istrator. Snow was a molecular physicist at the University of Cambridge for some 20 years and served as a scientific adviser to the British gov¬ ernment. His 11-novel sequence Strangers and Brothers (1940-70), which analyzes bureaucratic man and the corrupting influence of power, includes The Masters (1951), The New Men (1954), and Corridors of Power (1964). The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1959) and later nonfiction works deal with the cultural separation between practitioners of science and literature.