1851. `Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land,' vol. i. p. 223 [J. E. Bicheno, June 8, 1850, <i>in epist</i>.]:
"Last week an old fisherman brought me a fine specimen of a Saw-fish, caught in the Derwent. It turned out to be the <i>Pristis cirrhatus</i>,—a rare and curious species, confined to the Australian seas, and first described by Dr. Latham in the year 1793."
<hw>Sawyer</hw>, <i>n</i>. (1) Name applied by bushmen in New Zealand to the insect <i>Weta</i> (q.v.). (2) A trunk embedded in the mud so as to move with the current—hence the name: a snag is fixed. (An American use of the word.) See also <i>Snag</i>.
1873. J. B. Stephens, `Black Gin,' p. 22:
"By Fitzroy's rugged crags,
Its `sawyers' and its snags,
He roamed."
<hw>Sceloglaux</hw>, <i>n</i>. the scientific name of the genus containing the New Zealand bird called the <i>Laughing Owl</i> (see under <i>Jackass</i>). The name was given by Kaup in 1848; the bird had been previously classed as <i>Athene</i> by Gray in 1844. It is now nearly extinct. Kaup also gave the name of Spiloglaux to the <i>New Zealand Owl</i> at the same date. The words are from the Greek <i>glaux</i>, an owl, <i>spilos</i>, a spot, and <i>skelos</i>, a leg.
<hw>Scent-wood</hw>, a Tasmanian evergreen shrub, <i>Alyxia buxifolia</i>, R. Br., <i>N.O. Apocyneae</i>, of the dogbane family.
<hw>Schnapper</hw>, <i>n</i>. or <hw>Snapper</hw>, a fish abundant in all Australasian waters, <i>Pagrus unicolor</i>, Cuv. and Val. The latter spelling was the original form of the word (one that snaps). It was gradually changed by the fishermen, perhaps of Dutch origin, to <i>Schnapper</i>, the form now general. The name <i>Snapper</i> is older than the settlement of Australia, but it is not used for the same fish. `O.E.D.,' s.v. <i>Cavally</i>, quotes:
1657. R. Ligon, `Barbadoes,' p. 12:
"Fish . . . of various kinds . . . Snappers, grey and red;
Cavallos, Carpians, etc."