the immense estates of the Scropes of Bolton were divided among his illegitimate children, the chief portion passing by marriage to the marquis of Winchester, who was created duke of Bolton in 1689; to the Earl Rivers; and to John Grubham Howe, ancestor of the earls of Howe. The barony of Scrope of Bolton seems then to have become dormant; but the title might, it would appear, be claimed through the female line by the representative of Charles Jones (d. 1840) of Caton, Lancashire. From Stephen, third son of the 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton, were descended the Scropes of Castle Combe, Wiltshire, the last of whom was William Scrope (1772–1852), an artist and author, who was an intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott. His daughter married George Poulett Thompson (1797–1876), an eminent geologist and prolific political writer, who took the name of Scrope, and who after his wife's death sold Castle Combe, of which he wrote a history. Probably from the same branch of the family was descended Adrian Scrope, or Scroope (1601–1660), who was prominent on the parliamentarian side in the Civil War, and one of the signatories of Charles I.'s death warrant.
Sir Geoffrey Le Scrope (d. 1340), chief justice of the king's bench as mentioned above, uncle of the first Baron Scrope of Bolton, had a son Henry (1315–1391), who in 1350 was summoned to parliament by writ as Baron Scrope, the designation “of Masham” being added in the time of his grandson to distinguish the title from that held by the elder branch of the family. Henry's fourth son was Richard Le Scrope (c. 1350–1405), archbishop of York, who took part with the Percies in opposition to Henry IV., and was beheaded for treason in June 1405. Henry Le Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham (c. 1376–1415), was a favourite of Henry V., by whom he was made treasurer in 1410 and employed on diplomatic missions abroad. But in 1415 he was concerned in a conspiracy to dethrone Henry and was executed at Southampton, when his title was forfeited. It was, however, restored to his brother John in 1455; and it fell into abeyance on the death, in 1517, of Geoffrey, 11th Baron Scrope of Masham, without male heirs.
See Sir N. H. Nicolas, The Scrope and Grosvenor Controversy (2 vols., London, 1832), containing much detailed information about the various branches of the Scrope family; J. H. Wylie, History of England under Henry IV. (4 vols., London, 1884–1898); Edward Foss, The Judges of England (9 vols., London, 1848–1864); G. P. Scrope, History of the Manor and Ancient Barony of Castle Combe, Wills (London, 1852); G. E. C., Complete Peerage, vol. vii. (London, 1896). (R. J. M.)
SCROPE, GEORGE JULIUS POULETT (1797–1876), English geologist and political economist, was born on the 10th of March 1797, the second son of J. Poulett Thompson of Waverley Abbey, Surrey. He was educated at Harrow, and for a short time at Pembroke College, Oxford, but in 1816 he entered St John's College, Cambridge, graduated B.A. in 1821, and through the influence of E. D. Clarke and Sedgwick became interested in mineralogy and geology. During the winter of 1816–1817 he was at Naples, and was so keenly interested in Vesuvius that he renewed his studies of the volcano in 1818; and in the following year visited Etna and the Lipari Islands. In 1821 he married the daughter and heiress of William Scrope of Castle Combe, Wiltshire, and assumed her name; and he entered parliament in 1833 as M.P. for Stroud, retaining his seat until 1868. Meanwhile he began to study the volcanic regions of Central France in 1821, and visited the Eifel district in 1823. In 1825 he published Considerations on Volcanos, leading to the establishment of a new theory of the Earth, and in the following year was elected F.R.S. This earlier work was subsequently amplified and issued under the title of Volcanos (1862): an authoritative text-book of which a second edition was published ten years later. In 1827 he issued his classic Memoir on the Geology of Central France, including the Volcanic formations of Auvergne, the Veloy and the Vivarais, a quarto volume illustrated by maps and plates. The substance of this was reproduced in a revised and somewhat more popular form in The Geology and extinct Volcanos of Central France (1858). Scrope was awarded the Wollaston Medal by the Geological Society in 1867. Among his other works was the History of the Manor and Ancient Barony of Castle Combe (printed for private circulation, 1852). He died at Fairlawn near Cobham in Surrey on the 19th of January 1876.
Biography (with portrait) in Geol. Mag. for May 1870.
SCROPHULARIACEAE, in botany, a natural order of seed plants belonging to the sympetalous section of Dicotyledons, and a member of the series Tubiflorae. It is a cosmopolitan order containing about 180 genera with about 2000 species; the majority occur in temperate regions, the numbers diminishing rapidly towards the tropics and colder regions. About 30% of the species are annual herbs, such as eye bright (Euphrasia officinalis), cow-wheat (Melampyrum), and species of Veronica”
| 1, Corolla cut open showing the four stamens, rather more than 12 nat. size. |
showing the thick axial placenta bearing numerous small seeds. |
| 2, Unripe fruit cut lengthwise, | 3, Ripe capsule split open. |
more than 60% are biennial or generally perennial herbs and under shrubs, such as species of Veronica, mullein (Verbascum), foxglove (Digitalis; fig. 1), &c., while shrubs and trees are rare; Paulownia, a native of the mountains of Japan, a tree with large leaves and handsome panicles of violet flowers, is grown in European gardens.
The stem is sometimes prostrate and creeping, as in ivy-leaved toad-flax (Linaria Cymbalaria) and some of the native British Veronicas, but generally erect as in foxglove, figwort, mullein, &c.; a -few are climbers as Rhodochiton and Maurandia. The South African genera Hyobanche and Harveya are parasites almost devoid of chlorophyll with scale-like leaves; and many genera are semi parasitic, having green leaves, but attaching themselves by root-suckers to 'roots of grass, &c., from which they derive part of their nourishment; such are Euphrasia, Rhinanthus, Pedicularis, &c. A few
