Some general notes on nickers

After nosing through the novels again, I have a few notes on nickers for the Half-Continent. In Factotum (chapter 16), Europe and Rossamünd encounter a creature that could be straight out of a Lovecraft plot - a creature that is fairly amorphous and can reshape itself, even divide into smaller yet independent units.  And in chapter 22, there is mention of a 'pillboy' (pillbug) nicker and also