This is part of the Epson Scan which acts as a driver for the scanner. If I am using a program like Photoshop Elements it will scan the individual chips and then bring them in as individual scans to the program, then crop, rotate as needed before saving it. If the chips are too close together (within the trim area) it treats them as a single scan element.

I grabbed four random chips and one David Spragg chip and spread them out on the scanner bed. Then selected the Epson Scan software and pressed preview. The software gives me the opportunity to select/deselect specific scans. This is how it looked:

http://www.chipguide.com/chimage.php?image=/scanpic.jpg

Now I would have probably done them in single and change the brightness/contrast (especially apparent on the Harolds Club chip) but you get the point.