SAW-BILL 264 SAXE saws of notched shells, and the Tahitians of sharks' teeth. Modern saws vary in size and form, but may be divided into handsaws and machine saws, of which the first are the more numerous. Of hand saws the most commonly used are the gang saw, the crosscut saw, the frame saw, the hand saw, the panel saw, the keyhole saw, the bow saw, the ripping saw, the sash saw, the tenon saw, etc. Machine saws are divided into circular, reciprocating, and band saws. The circular saw is a disk of steel with teeth on its periphery; it pressed into molds or dies. The sawdust of mahogany and rosewood is used in dressing furs, and the small fragments of some woods, such as the pencil cedar, made by saw cuts or the turning tool, yield perfumes. Sawdust sinks in water though the wood from which it is cut floats. SAWFISH, a popular name for any species of the genus Pristis, from the saw- like weapon into which the snout is pro- duced. They are common in tropical and less so in subtropical seas, and attain a SAWFISH is made to revolve at great speed, while the material to be cut is pushed forward against it by means of a traveling plat- form. The reciprocating saw works like a two-handled hand saw, but it is fixed and the material pushed forward against its teeth. The band saw consists of a thin endless saw placed over two wheels, and strained on them. It passes down through a flat sawing table, upon which the material to be cut is laid. SAW-BILL, a family of birds, Trini- tiaas, order Insessores, comprising birds with the bill as long as the head, gently decurved near the tip, but not hooked, and the cutting edges dentated; the tarsi rather long, feet large, the middle and outer toes connected for more than half their length. This family is represented in North America by Monotus cceruliceps, the saw-bill of Mexico. SAWDUST, the accumulated particles caused by sawing wood, stone, etc. Be- sides the more common uses of sawdust, it is commercially valuable as the basis of various manufactures. Oxalic acid is manufactured on a large scale from wood sawdust. Sawdust is also used in the
- 'carbonating" stage of the process for
the manufacture of soda ash. The sub- stance called bois-durci (hardened wood), of which beautiful ebony-like medallions and other ornaments are made, consists of the fine sawdust of rosewood, ebony, and other woods formed into a paste and considerable size, specimens with a saw six feet long and a foot broad at the base being far from rare. Their offensive weapon renders them dangerous to almost all other large inhabitants of the ocean. The sawfish use their rostral weapon in tearing off pieces of flesh from their prey or in ripping open the abdomen, when they seize and devour the detached por- tions or the protruding soft parts. SAWFLIES, a group of insects belong- ing to the order Hymenoptera and distin- guished by the peculiar conformation of the ovipositor of the females, which is composed of two broad plates, with ser- rated or toothed edges, by means of which they incise the stems and leaves of plants, and deposit their eggs in the slits thus formed. The turnip fly, Athalia centifo- lise, and the gooseberry fly, Nematus grossularise, are examples. SAXE, MAURICE, COUNT DE, a French military officer; a natural son of Augustus II., King of Poland; born in Goslar, Prussia, Oct. 28, 1696. He en- tered the army at an early age, and was present with Prince Eugene at the siege of Tournay. In 1720 he went to Paris. After an unsuccessful attempt to get him- self elected Duke of Courland he took service in the French army, distinguished himself in the campaign of 1733-1735, and was made lieutenant-general. In the general war which followed the death of the Emperor Charles VI., Saxe took a
