Book IV.

REPTILES.

§ 1. _Serpents, or Ophidian Reptiles._

SERPENTS are characterised by an elongated body, clothed in scales and destitute of limbs, but furnished with a tail. They move by lateral undulations of the body; and in this manner they glide with equal ease along the bare ground, through entangled thickets or water, and up the trunks of trees. They possess the power of fasting a great length of time, and when they feed always swallow their prey whole, which they are enabled to accomplish by their faculty of dilating their bodies to an enormous size. This power is carried to such an extent that a Boa Constrictor can swallow a bullock whole, suffering no other inconvenience than that of lying in a state of torpor while digestion is proceeding. Serpents generally roll themselves up when in a state of repose, with the head in the centre; and when disturbed raise the head before they uncoil the body. The Serpent is often made a subject of poetry; and as it was the form adopted by the arch fiend to seduce Eve, it is generally considered the emblem of insinuation and flattery:

“---- ---- ---- ---- on his rear, Circular base of rising folds that tower’d Fold above fold, surprising maze, his head Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes. With burnish’d neck of verdant gold, erect Amidst his circling spires that on the grass Floated redundant; pleasing was his shape And lovely.... Oft he bow’d His turret crest and sleek enamell’d neck, Fawning, and lick’d the ground whereon she trod.” PARADISE LOST.

The ancients paid great honours to Serpents, and sometimes called them good genii: they frequented sepulchres and burying-places, and were addressed like the tutelary divinities of these places. We read, in the fifth book of the Æneid, that when the Trojan hero sacrificed to his father’s ghost, a Serpent of this kind made his appearance:

“---- ---- and from the tomb begun to glide His hugy bulk on seven high volumes roll’d; Blue was his breadth of back, and streak’d with scaly gold. Thus riding on his curls he seemed to pass A rolling fire along, and singe the grass; More various colours through his body run, Than Iris when her bow imbibes the sun. Between the rising altars and around, The sacred monster shot along the ground; With harmless play among the bowls he pass’d, And with his lolling tongue assay’d the taste: Thus fed with holy food, the wondrous guest Within the hollow tomb retired to rest.” DRYDEN.

This animal was exalted to the honour of being an emblem of prudence, and even of eternity; and is often represented as the latter in Egyptian hieroglyphics, biting his tail, so as to form a circle. Serpents are very numerous in Africa; and Lucan, in his “Pharsalia,” gives us a very extraordinary account of the different species, which he seems to have drawn partly from ancient Greek authors, partly from actual traditions. He says:

“Why plagues like these infect the Libyan air; Why deaths unknown in various shapes appear; Why, fruitful to destroy, the cursed land Is temper’d thus by Nature’s secret hand; Dark and obscure the hidden cause remains, And still deludes the vain inquirer’s pains.” ROWE’S “LUCAN." Serpents differ very much in size. We are told of Serpents in the Isle of Java measuring fifty feet in length; and in the British Museum there is a skin of one thirty-two feet long.

IS a venomous species of serpent that seldom exceeds the length of two or three feet, and is of a dull yellowish brown colour with black spots, the abdomen being entirely black; the head is nearly in the shape of a lozenge, and much thicker than the body. The Viper is viviparous; yet it is ascertained that the eggs are formed, though they are hatched in the body of the mother.

The Reverend Mr. White, of Selborne, in company with a friend, surprised a large female Viper, as she lay on the grass, basking in the sun, which seemed very heavy and bloated. As Vipers are so venomous that they should be destroyed, they killed her; and afterwards, being curious to know what made her so large, they opened her, and found in her abdomen fifteen young ones, about the size of full-grown earth-worms. This little fry issued into the world with the true Viper spirit about them, showing great alertness as soon as they were disengaged from the body of their parent. They twisted and wriggled about, set themselves up, and gaped very wide when touched with a stick; exhibiting manifest tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet no fangs could be discovered, even by the help of glasses.

Vipers attain their full growth in seven years; they feed on frogs, toads, lizards, and other animals of that kind, and it is even asserted that they catch mice and small birds, of which they seem very fond. They cast their skin every year. The two front teeth in the upper jaw of the Viper are furnished with a small bladder containing poison. There is no doubt but this poison, which appears to have been infused into the jaws of the Viper and other serpents by Providence, as a means of revenge upon their enemies, is so harmless to the animal itself, that when swallowed by it it only serves to accelerate its digestion. These venomous teeth or fangs stand, each by itself, upon a small movable bone; this arrangement enables the creature to fold down its fearful weapons in the mouth, and to erect them instantly when it has occasion to make use of them. The Viper is very patient of hunger, and may be kept more than six months without food. When in confinement, it refuses all sustenance, and the sharpness of its poison decreases in proportion: when at liberty, it remains torpid throughout the winter; yet, when confined, it has never been observed to take its annual repose.

The Viper is a native of many parts of this island, chiefly the dry and chalky counties. Its flesh was formerly used for broth, and much esteemed in medicine, particularly to restore debilitated constitutions. It was also used as a cosmetic, being supposed to render the complexion fair. It was probably from the use made by the ancients of this animal in medicine that Esculapius is represented with a serpent. The best remedy against the bite of the Viper is to suck the wound, which may be done without danger, and after this to rub it with sweet oil, and poultice it with bread and milk.

THIS species of Viper is nearly allied to the asp, and has a pointed and solid horny substance on each eyelid, formed of two projecting scales: its body is of a pale yellowish or greyish colour, with distant sub-ovate transverse brown spots; and in length it is from one to two feet.

This species is often mentioned by the ancients. Pliny tells us that “the serpent Cerastes hath many times four small horns, standing out double; with moving whereof she amuseth the birds, and traineth them unto her for to catch them, hiding all the rest of her body.”

It is found in the sandy deserts of Egypt and the neighbouring countries, and is believed to be the Asp with which Cleopatra eluded the disgrace of becoming a prisoner to her Roman conqueror.

IS a native of the New World, and grows to five or six, and sometimes to eight feet in length, and is nearly as thick as a man’s leg. It is not unlike the viper, having a large head and small neck, and inflicting a very dangerous wound. Over each eye is a large pendulous scale, the use of which has not yet been ascertained; the body is scaly and hard, variegated with several different colours. The principal characteristic of this justly dreaded serpent is the rattle, a kind of instrument resembling the curb-chain of a bridle, at the extremity of the tail; it is formed of thin, hard, hollow bones, linked together, and rattling on the least motion. When disturbed, the creature shakes this rattle with considerable noise and rapidity, striking terror into all the smaller animals, which are afraid of the destructive venom that this serpent communicates to the wounded limb with his bite. The wound the Rattle-snake inflicts, through the uncommon sharpness and rapid fluency of the poison, generally terminates the torment and life of the unhappy victim in the course of six or seven hours.

A snake of this kind exhibited in London at a menagerie of foreign animals, in the year 1810, wounded a carpenter’s hand, who was repairing its cage, and seeking for his rule. The man suffered the most excruciating pain, and his life could not be saved, although medical assistance was immediately applied, and every effort made to prevent the dire effect of the poison. The proprietor was condemned to pay a deodand for the injury done by the serpent.

THE HAJE, or Egyptian Asp, is from three to six feet in length; it has two teeth longer than the rest, through which the venom flows. The body is covered with small round scales, and is of a greenish colour, bordered with brown; its neck is capable of inflation. The jugglers of Egypt, by pressing this Asp on the nape of the neck with the finger, throw the animal into a kind of catalepsy, which renders it stiff and immovable; when they say that they have changed it into a rod. The habit which this species has of raising itself up when approached, induced the ancient Egyptians to believe that it guarded the fields where it was found; and it is sculptured on the gates of their temples as an emblem of the protecting divinity of the world.

CALLED by the Indians the _Nagao_, is from three to eight feet long, with two long fangs in the upper jaw. It has a broad neck, and a mark of dark brown on the forehead; which, when viewed frontwise, looks like a pair of spectacles; but behind, like the head of a cat. The eyes are fierce and full of fire; the head is small, and the nose flat, though covered with very large scales, of a yellowish ash-colour: the skin is white, and the large tumour on the neck is flat and covered with oblong smooth scales. This serpent is extremely dreaded by the British residents in India, as its bite has hitherto been found to be incurable, and the sufferer generally dies in half an hour.

Of this kind are the dancing-snakes, which are carried in baskets throughout Hindoostan, and procure a maintenance for a set of people, who play a few simple notes on the flute, with which the snakes seem much delighted, and keep time by a graceful motion of the head; erecting about half their length from the ground, and following the music with gentle curves, like the undulating lines of a swan’s neck. It is a well-attested fact, that, when a house is infested with these snakes, and some other of the coluber genus, which destroy poultry and small domestic animals, as also by the larger serpents of the boa tribe, the musicians are sent for; who, by playing on a flageolet, find out their hiding places, and charm them to destruction: for no sooner do the snakes hear the music, than they come softly from their retreat, and are easily taken. I imagine these musical snakes were known in Palestine, from the Psalmist comparing the ungodly to the deaf adder, which stoppeth her ears, and refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely.

IS the largest of all English serpents, sometimes exceeding four feet in length. The colour of the body is variegated with yellow, green, white, and regular spots of brown and black. They seem to enjoy themselves when basking in the sun, at the foot of an old wall. This animal is perfectly innoxious, although many reports have been circulated and believed to the contrary; it feeds on frogs, worms, mice, and various kinds of insects, and passes the greater part of the winter in a state of torpidity. In the spring they re-appear, and at this season uniformly cast their skins. This is a process that they also seem to undergo in autumn. Mr. White says: “About the middle of September we found in a field, near a hedge, the slough of a large snake, which seemed to have been newly cast. It appeared as if turned wrong side outward, and as if it had been drawn off backward, like a stocking or a woman’s glove. Not only the whole skin, but even the scales from the eyes were peeled off, and appeared in the slough like a pair of spectacles. The reptile, at the time of changing his coat, had entangled himself intricately in the grass and weeds, in order that the friction of the stalks and blades might promote this curious shifting of his exuvia.”

THIS immense animal is often twenty feet in length, and sometimes even thirty-five; the ground colour of its skin is yellowish grey, on which is distributed, along the back, a series of large chain-like, reddish brown, and sometimes perfectly red, variegations, with other smaller and more irregular marks and spots. It is a native of South America, where it chiefly resides in the most retired situations in woods and marshes.

The bite of this snake is not venomous, nor is the animal believed to bite at all, except to seize its prey. It kills its prey by twining round it and crushing its bones.

The _Python_ and the _Anaconda_, which are at least as large as the Boa Constrictor, are found chiefly in the Indian Islands: they are very similar both in form and colouring to the Boa, and have exactly the same habits.

These monsters will attack and devour the largest animals, of which the following is an instance: A Boa had for some time been waiting near the brink of a pool in expectation of its prey, when a buffalo appeared. Having darted upon the affrighted beast, it instantly began to encircle him with its voluminous twistings, and at every twist the bones of the buffalo were heard to crack as loud as the report of a gun. It was in vain that the animal struggled and bellowed; its enormous enemy entwined it so closely that at length all its bones were crushed to pieces, like those of a malefactor on the wheel, and the whole body was reduced to one uniform mass: the serpent then untwined its folds in order to swallow its prey at leisure. To prepare for this, and also to make it slip down the throat more smoothly, it licked the whole body over, covering it with a mucilaginous substance. It then began to swallow it, at the end that afforded the least resistance, and in the act of swallowing, the throat suffered so great a dilation as to take in a substance that was thrice its own ordinary thickness.

THIS name is now applied only to a genus of South American reptiles, which are of a harmless nature, being destitute of those fangs which prepare the venom in poisonous serpents. It is indeed doubtful whether the Amphisbænas are really snakes, and by many naturalists they are arranged amongst the lizards, although they have no limbs. The head is so small, and the tail so thick and short, that at first sight it is difficult to distinguish one from the other; and this circumstance, united to the animal’s habit of proceeding either backwards or forwards as occasion may require, gave rise to the supposition throughout the native regions of the Amphisbæna, that it had two heads, one at each extremity, and that it was impossible to destroy one by simple cutting, as the two heads would mutually seek one another and reunite! The colour of the commonest species is a deep brown varied with patches of white. The body is ornamented by more than two hundred rings, and the tail by about twenty-five. The eyes are almost concealed by a thick membrane, and this, together with their small size, has given rise to the idea that the Amphisbæna is blind. It grows to the length of eighteen inches or two feet. Its food consists of worms and insects, and especially ants, in the mounds of which it generally conceals itself. The ancients gave the name of Amphisbæna to what they considered a two-headed serpent; but it is not known with certainty which of the serpent tribe they meant, as their Amphisbæna is described by Lucan as venomous, though in his lines elegance of language, beauty of versification, and liveliness of fancy, have perhaps a greater claim than truth to the admiration of the reader:--

“With hissings fierce, dire Amphisbænas rear Their double heads, and rouse the soldier’s fear. Eager he flies: more eager they pursue; On every side the onset quick renew! With equal swiftness face or shun the prey, And follow fast when thought to run away. Thus on the looms the busy shuttles glide, Alternate fly, and shoot at either side.”

§ II. _Batrachian Reptiles._

WHEN this reptile issues from the egg it is merely a black, oval mass, with a slender tail. This tadpole, as it is then called, is the embryo of the Frog, and when it has attained a certain size its body gradually acquires the form of that of the Frog, its legs sprout from its sides, and finally its tail is cast off. This metamorphosis is one of the most curious in nature, and deserves our observation. Like other reptiles, it is not necessary for it to breathe in order to put its blood into circulation, as it has a communication between the two ventricles of the heart. It lives during spring in ponds, brooks, muddy ditches, marshy grounds, and other watery places, in summer in corn-fields and pasture land. Its voice proceeds from two bladders, one on each side of the mouth, which it can fill with wind. When it croaks, it puts its head out of the water. The hinder legs of the Frog are much longer than the fore ones, to help it in its repeated and extensive leaps. The whole of the body bears a little resemblance to some of the warm-blooded animals, principally about the thighs and the toes. The Frog is extremely tenacious of life, and often survives the abscission of its head for several hours. It is supposed that Frogs spend the whole winter at the bottom of some stagnant water in a state of torpidity.

There are several species of the Frog; they are all oviparous, and the eggs are gelatinous. The _Edible Frog_ is the species used in France and Germany for food; it is considerably larger than the common kind, and though rare in England, is very plentiful in France, Germany, and Italy. Its colour is olive green, marked with black patches on the back, and on its limbs with transverse bars of the same. From the tip of the nose three distinct stripes of pale yellow extend to the extremity of the body, the middle one slightly depressed, and the lateral ones considerably elevated. The upper parts are of a pale whitish colour, tinged with green, and marked with irregular brown spots. These creatures are brought from the country, thirty or forty thousand at a time, to Vienna, and sold to the great dealers, who have froggeries for them, which are pits four or five feet deep, dug in the ground, the mouth covered with a board, and in severe weather with straw. In the year 1793, there were but three great dealers in Vienna, by whom those persons who brought them to the markets ready for the cook were supplied. Only the legs and thighs are eaten, and these are always skinned. They are rather dear, being considered a great delicacy. The Edible Frogs are caught in various ways, sometimes in the night, by means of nets, into which they are attracted by the light of torches that are carried out for the purpose, and sometimes by hooks, baited with worms, insects, flesh, or even a bit of red cloth. They are exceedingly voracious, and seize everything that moves before them.

WHOSE very name seems to carry with it something of an opprobrious meaning, is not unworthy the attention of the observer of nature; for, though prejudice and false associations have affixed a stigma on certain species of animals, none of the works of our Creator are despicable, but all, the more minutely they are examined, the greater claim they are found to have to our admiration. Somewhat like the frog in the body, it also resembles that animal in its habits; but the frog leaps, while the Toad crawls. It is an error to suppose the Toad to be a noxious and venomous animal; it is as harmless as the frog, and, like some of the human kind, only labours under the stigma of undeserved calumny. Several stories have been related of its spitting poison, or knowing how to expel the venom it may have received from the spider or any other animals; but these fables have been long exploded. A curious and yet inexplicable phenomenon is that Toads have been said to be found alive in the centre of large blocks of stone, where they must have subsisted without food and respiration for a number of years. The following are recorded examples: In the year 1719, M. Hubert, professor of philosophy at Caen, was witness to a living Toad being taken from the solid trunk of an elm-tree. It was lodged exactly in the centre, and filled the whole of the space that contained it. The tree was in every other respect firm and sound. Dr. Bradley saw a Toad taken from the trunk of a large oak. In the year 1733, a live Toad was discovered by M. Grayburg in a hard and solid block of stone which had been dug up in a quarry in Gothland. On being touched with a stick upon the head, he informs us, it contracted its eyes as if asleep, and when the stick was moved gradually opened them. Its mouth had no aperture, but was closed round with a yellowish skin. On being pressed with the stick on the back, a small quantity of clear water issued from it behind, and it immediately died. A living Toad was found in a block of marble at Chillingham Castle, belonging to Lord Tankerville, near Alnwick, in Northumberland.

Some of these cases are related in a manner which renders it difficult to doubt that the observers described _what they thought they saw_; but the occurrence of the phenomena, as described, seems to be so utterly impossible that we are forced to suppose that those writers have been misled in some way. That there is some foundation for many of the stories in question we can have no doubt, but we must look forward to further observations for their explanation; as Mr. Bell says: “To believe that a Toad, inclosed within a mass of clay, or other similar substance, shall exist wholly without air or food, for hundreds of years, and at length be liberated alive, and capable of crawling, on the breaking up of the matrix, now become a solid rock, is certainly a demand upon our credulity which few would be ready to answer.”

With regard to the length of life of these animals, it is impossible to state anything decisive, but several facts prove that some of them have been gifted with astonishing longevity.

A correspondent of Mr. Pennant’s supplied him with some curious particulars respecting a domestic Toad, which continued in the same place for _thirty-six_ years. It frequented the steps before the hall-door of a gentleman’s house in Devonshire. By being constantly fed, it was rendered so tame as always to come out of its hole in the evening when a candle was brought, and to look up as if expecting to be carried into the house, where it was frequently fed with insects. An animal of this description being so much noticed and befriended excited the curiosity of all who came to the house, and even females so far conquered the horrors instilled into them by their nurses as generally to request to see it fed. It appeared most partial to flesh-maggots, which were kept for it in bran. It would follow them on the table, and, when within a proper distance, would fix its eyes and remain motionless for a little while, apparently to prepare for the stroke which was to follow, and which was instantaneous. It threw out its tongue to a great distance, and the insect, stuck by the glutinous matter to its tip, was swallowed by a motion quicker than the eye could follow. After having been kept more than thirty-six years it was at length destroyed by a tame raven, which one day seeing it at the mouth of its hole pulled it out, and so wounded it that it died.

WHICH is one of the ugliest of all Toads, is remarkable for the mode in which the young are developed. The female, like that of the common Toad, deposits her eggs at the edge of the water, but instead of leaving them there, the male takes the mass of eggs and places them on the back of his partner, pressing them down into a number of curious pits, which are produced in that part at the breeding season. When each of the pits has received its egg, the orifice becomes closed by a sort of lid, and the young animal goes through all its changes from the tadpole to the perfect Toad in this rather confined space. This curious Toad is found in Guiana; it frequents the dark corners of the houses, and, notwithstanding its intense ugliness, is eaten by the natives.

BESIDES the frogs and toads, which have no tails when arrived at their perfect form, there are several Batrachian Reptiles in which this appendage is permanent. The best known of these are the Newts, of which two kinds are very common in ponds during the spring. The common Newt is three or four inches in length, and is of a pale brown colour above, and orange with black spots below. It has four little webbed feet and a flattened tail. In swimming, the legs are turned backwards to lessen resistance, and the animal is propelled principally by the tail. Their progression at the bottom of the water and on land is performed creepingly with their small and weak feet. These animals live during the autumn and winter under stones and clods of earth, and come down to the water in February or March for the purpose of depositing their eggs there. The eggs are carefully inclosed by the parents in the leaves of aquatic plants. The young, when first hatched, are in the form of tadpoles; the legs afterwards sprout from the sides of the body, but the tail is not cast off, as in the frogs. The old Newts remain in the water until July or August.

THE GREAT NEWT. (_Triton palustris._)

THIS, the largest British species of the Newt, is by no means uncommon in our ponds and ditches. It is about six inches in length; its back is dark, and its under side is orange-coloured, sprinkled with small black spots; altogether it is darker and richer in colour than the common species. During the breeding season the males of both species, but especially those of the larger one, are adorned with membranous crests, and their colours become much more vivid. Their tenacity of life is very great; when mutilated, they will reproduce the lost parts, and they may be frozen into a solid lump of ice without losing their vitality. With regard to its habits, this animal is a most voracious creature, and devours unsparingly aquatic insects, and, in fact, any small animal which happens to come in its way. For tadpoles it seems to have a special predilection, and its greediness is such that it has not escaped the charge of cannibalism. These Newts have more than once been taken in the act of devouring individuals of the smaller species, but of such a size that there seems to have been considerable difficulty in swallowing them.

§ III. _Saurian Reptiles._

THIS is a British species, and is one of the very few reptiles found in Ireland. Its movements are most graceful. It comes out of its hiding-place during the day to bask in the sun, and when it sees an insect it darts like lightning upon it, seizing it with its sharp little teeth, and soon swallowing it. The young are produced in eggs, which are generally hatched the moment they are laid, the skin of the egg being so thin that the young Lizard can be seen through it.

The _Green Lizard_ (_Lacerta viridis_) is a beautiful creature. Its colours are more brilliant and beautiful than those of any other European species, and exhibit a rich and varied mixture of darker and lighter green, interspersed with specks and marks of yellow, brown, black, and sometimes even red. The head is covered with large angular scales, and the rest of the upper parts with very small ones. The tail is generally much longer than the body. Beneath the throat there is a kind of collar, formed by scales of much darker colour than the rest of the animal.

The Lizard seems occasionally to lay aside its natural gentleness of disposition, but no further than for the purpose of obtaining food. Mr. Edwards once surprised a Lizard in the act of fighting with a small bird, as she sat on her nest in a vine against a wall, with newly-hatched young. He supposed that the Lizard would have made a prey of the latter, could it have driven the old bird from her nest. He watched the contest for some time; but, on his near approach, the Lizard dropped to the ground, and the bird flew off.

THE IGUANA, (_Iguana tuberculata_,)

WHICH is found commonly in the tropical parts of America, is a large kind of lizard, often measuring four or five feet in length. It has a crest of long teeth, looking like a comb, along its back; its tail is long, tapering, and slender; and beneath its throat it has a sort of pouch which it can dilate considerably. The colour of this lizard is greenish, with brown bands on the tail. The Iguana is found in trees, and feeds chiefly on fruits and other vegetable substances. It is usually caught when reposing upon a branch, and by a very simple process: the hunter approaches it whistling, and the animal is stupid enough to sit still, no doubt enjoying the music, until a noose, attached to the end of a stick, is passed over its head. It is captured for the sake of its flesh, which is regarded as very delicate.

An Iguana, which was kept for some time in a hothouse at Bristol, was fed on the leaves of kidney bean plants, which it devoured eagerly, after refusing every other kind of food that had been offered it. It seems certain that Iguanas in their natural state are not entirely herbivorous, but feed on insects, the eggs of birds, and other animal matter, as well as on plants. They will occasionally take to the water, and seem to swim with ease. Notwithstanding its repulsive and even frightful appearance, the Iguana is perfectly harmless and inoffensive.

THE Flying Dragons, those terrible creatures described by the older naturalists, are undoubtedly fabulous and, indeed, impossible creatures, and either entirely products of the imagination of the vulgar, or founded upon specimens manufactured for the express purpose of taking in the naturalist, who, in old times, was a little too ready to believe in wonders of this kind. The wings of a bat attached to a body and legs made up from half a dozen animals would furnish a capital Dragon in former times. Modern naturalists apply the name of Dragon to some little lizards inhabiting the East Indies, and which have none of those terrible qualities ascribed to the fabled monsters of antiquity. They are related to the Iguanas, but have on each side of the body a membranous expansion, stiffened by the prolongation into it of the first six false ribs; this acts as a sort of parachute, and enables the little creatures, not to fly, but to leap or glide through the air to considerable distances between one tree and another. They live entirely in trees, and feed on insects.

“A lizard’s body, lean and long, A fish’s head, a serpent’s tongue; Its foot with triple claw disjoin’d; And what a length of tail behind! How slow its pace! and then its hue!” MERRICK.

THE CHAMELEON is a small animal, about ten inches long, and its tail nearly the same length. Its body is covered with small compressed scaly granules; its back is edged, and its tail round, long, and tapering. Its feet have each five toes, which are situated three one way and two another, in order to enable it to lay firm hold of the branches: but wherever it happens that these are too large for the animal to grasp with its feet, it coils round them its long, prehensile tail, and fixes its claws strongly into the bark. When walking on the ground, it steps forward in an extremely cautious manner, seeming never to lift one foot until it is well assured of the firmness of the rest. From these precautions, its motions have a ridiculous appearance of gravity, when contrasted with the smallness of its size, and the activity that might be expected from an animal so nearly allied to some of the most lively in the creation. Though the Chameleon is repulsive in its appearance, it is perfectly harmless. It feeds only on insects, for which the structure of its tongue is well adapted, being long and protrusive, and furnished with a dilated, glutinous, and somewhat tubular tip. With this it seizes on insects with the greatest ease, darting it out and immediately retracting it, with the prey thus secured, which it swallows whole. The strange notion that Chameleons were able to feed on air, seems to have arisen merely from the circumstance of these animals, like all others of the lizard family, being able to subsist for a great length of time without food. The eyes of the Chameleon have the singular property of looking at the same instant in different directions; one of them may be seen to move when the other is at rest, or one will be directed forward, whilst the other is attending to some object behind, or in a similar manner upward and downward. It has the power of inflating its body to double its ordinary size, and at these times it is transparent. It can undoubtedly change its colour, but it is not true that it takes that of any object it may be near. On the contrary, its change of colour depends on its being exposed to a very strong light; and it only changes from its natural dull grey to a beautiful green, spotted unequally with red. Africa is the native country of the Chameleons, of which there are fourteen species; but two of them are found also in different parts of Asia and New Holland, and one (_C. vulgaris_) in the south of Europe; but this animal has never been found in any part of America.

THIS animal is frequently thirty feet long. The female lays its eggs in the sand, where they are hatched by the heat of the sun; and the mother is said to take no care of the young ones. The head of this species, as of all the true Crocodiles, is twice as long as it is broad; the snout is pointed and unequal, and the eyes, which are small, are placed very far asunder. The colour is a greenish bronze, speckled with brown, and of a yellowish green underneath: six rows of nearly equal-sized plates run along the back. This Crocodile is less ferocious than some of the other kinds, and, when taken young, may be tamed. It is common in Senegal and other parts of Africa, as well as in the Nile.

The method which the African adopts to kill this formidable creature displays considerable ingenuity and courage. Having wrapped a thick cloth round his arm, and provided himself with a long knife, he proceeds to the known haunt, usually a reedy swamp or river. The moment the Crocodile perceives him it rushes at him with open mouth, but is coolly received by its antagonist, who thrusts his covered arm between its jaws. The teeth cannot pierce through the thick folds of the cloth, so that his arm only gets a smart squeeze, and before the creature can disengage itself, he adroitly cuts its throat.

The _Gavials_ have very long, slender snouts, and their hind feet are webbed to the ends of the toes. These animals grow to the length of twenty-five feet, and when large are as dangerous and destructive as the Nilotic Crocodile. They are found abundantly in the Ganges, and in the fresh waters of most parts of India and its islands.

A short time before M. Navarette was at the Manillas, he was told that, as a young woman was washing her feet at one of the rivers, an Alligator seized and carried her off. Her husband, to whom she had been but just married, hearing her screams, threw himself headlong into the water, and, with a dagger in his hand, pursued the robber. He overtook and fought the animal with such success as to recover his wife; but, unfortunately for her brave rescuer, she died before she could be brought to the shore.

THE habits of the Alligator are much the same as those of the crocodile. The principal mark of distinction is, that the former has its head and part of the neck more smooth than the latter, and the snout is considerably more wide and flat, as well as more rounded at the extremity. The largest of these animals do not usually exceed eighteen feet. Alligators are natives of the warmer parts of America, and are the dread of all living animals. Their voracity is so great that they do not spare even mankind.

The voice of the Alligator is loud and harsh. They have an unpleasant and powerful musky scent. M. Pagés says, that near one of the rivers in America, where they were numerous, their effluvia was so strong as to impregnate his provisions, and even to give them the nauseous taste of rotten musk. This effluvium proceeds chiefly from four glands, two of which are situated in the groin, near each thigh, and the other two at the breast, under each fore leg. Dampier informs us that, when his men killed an Alligator, they generally took out these glands, and, after having dried them, wore them in their hats by way of perfume.

The following anecdote of the voracity of this animal is related by Waterton, in his “Wanderings in South America”:--“One Sunday evening, some years ago, as I was walking with Don Felipe de Ynciarte, governor of Angustura, on the bank of the Oroonoque, ‘Stop here a minute or two, Don Carlos,’ said he to me, ‘while I recount a sad accident. One fine evening last year, as the people of Angustura were sauntering up and down here, in the Alameda, I was within twenty yards of this place, when I saw a large Cayman rush out of the river, seize a man, and carry him down, before anybody had it in his power to assist him. The screams of the poor fellow were terrible, as the Cayman was running off with him. He plunged into the river with his prey: we instantly lost sight of him, and never saw or heard him more.’”

§ IV. _Chelonian Reptiles._

THIS animal has a small head, four feet, and a tail, which it can gather within the shell in such a way that the top and under part meet together, and so closely, that the greatest strength cannot separate them. The eye is destitute of an upper lid, the under one serving to defend that organ. The upper shell, composed of thirty-seven compartments, is convex, and so strong, that a loaded cart can pass over it without injuring the creature inside. In winter, Tortoises are said to bury themselves in the ground, or retire to some cavern or hole, which they line with moss, grass, and leaves, and where they pass in safe and solitary retirement the whole of this season. The Tortoise is very tenacious of life, and is no less remarkable for its longevity, as it is ascertained that one lived upwards of one hundred and twenty years in the garden of Lambeth Palace.

This animal is found in most of the countries near the Mediterranean Sea, in Corsica, Sardinia, and some of the islands of the Archipelago, as well as in many parts of the north of Africa.

MOST of the Turtles are considered very delicate food, especially the green species. Some of them are so large as to weigh from four to eight hundred pounds. Dampier mentions an immensely large one that was caught at Port Royal, in the Bay of Campeachy. It was nearly six feet long, and four feet broad. A son of Captain Roch, a boy about ten years old, went in the shell, from the shore to his father’s ship, which was about a quarter of a mile distant.

Turtle generally ascend from the sea, and crawl on the beach, for the purpose of laying their eggs (which are as large sometimes as those of a common hen), sometimes to the number of fifty or sixty at a time. The young ones, as soon as they are hatched, crawl down to the water. Turtles are caught, when sleeping on land, by turning them on their backs; for as they cannot turn themselves over again, all means of escape is denied them. The lean of the Green Turtle tastes and looks like veal, without any fishy flavour. The fat is as green as grass, and very sweet. The introduction of Turtle as an article of food into England, appears to have taken place within the last eighty or ninety years. They are common in Jamaica, and in most of the islands of the East and West Indies. Green Turtles are sometimes caught on the shores of Europe, driven thither by stress of weather. In the year 1752, one, six feet long and four feet broad, weighing between eight and nine hundred pounds, was caught in the harbour of Dieppe, after a storm. In 1754, a still larger one, upwards of eight feet long, was caught near Antioche, and was carried to the Abbey of Longveau, near Vannes, in Brittany; and in the year 1810, a small one was caught amongst the submarine rocks near Christchurch, in Hampshire.

The reader will remember how delighted Robinson Crusoe was to find a large Turtle which, he says, contained three score eggs. Behold him dragging it home.

HAS received its name from the peculiar formation of the upper jaw, which terminates in a curved point, like the beak of a bird of prey. It is smaller than the Green Turtle, the largest specimens being about three feet in length. Its flesh is a very indifferent, if not unwholesome, article of food; but the horny plates with which its back is covered, and which lie over one another like the slates on the roof of a house, are beautifully mottled, and constitute the well-known tortoiseshell of commerce, which is so much used for making combs and various ornamental articles. It is only the best kind of tortoiseshell, however, that is taken from the Hawk’s-bill Turtle. The shell that is usually seen is taken from commoner kinds. A very large quantity of tortoise-shell is imported into Europe every year, and the traffic in it forms a very important part of the trade of those countries in which turtles abound.

HAS its back covered with a sort of leathery skin, instead of the horny plates of the other turtles. It is a very large species, measuring eight feet or more in length, and weighing as much as a thousand pounds. It is chiefly found in the Mediterranean; it is, however, occasionally found on the other coasts of Europe, and a few specimens, some of them weighing seven or eight hundred pounds, have been caught in England. The flesh is not considered good, and in some cases great suffering has been occasioned by eating it. In 1748, a Leathery Turtle, which had been caught near Scarborough, was purchased by a gentleman, who invited several friends to taste it. Though warned that the flesh was unwholesome, one of the guests ate some, but was seized soon after with dreadful sickness. This should be a warning to the curious to be careful how they “eat strange flesh.”