28 OUR REPTILES. 



abound in Grermany, Switzerland, Poland, Northern 

 Russia, in Siberia, and generally through Central 

 Europe. It appears to occur freely in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Poole, but we do not remember to 

 have met with records of its occurence in the North 

 of England, or in Scotland, although it may have 

 been confounded with the foregoing, especially as it 

 is evidently a Northern rather than a Southern 

 species. 



Unlike the Scaly Lizard, which is in reality the 

 common lizard with us, it is oviparous, the female 

 laying twelve or more eggs in the sand, and leaving 

 them to be hatched by the heat of the sun. She 

 hollows out a cavity, or rude nest, for the purpose, 

 and covers her eggs with the sand. It possesses a 

 " snappish " temper, is not readily domesticated, and 

 refuses food under confinement. Like other reptiles, 

 it passes its winters in a state of repose. 



The liver, bile, excrements, and eggs of the 

 Lizard were in former times employed as remedies 

 in certain diseases, and the entire animal has been 

 proposed as a substitute for the Scink, a reptile 

 allied to the Lizards, which had a great reputation 

 in olden times, the use of which has very recently 

 been attempted to be revived. Dr. Grosse, of 

 Greneva, has maintained that the ancients were 

 justified in employing the Scink in medicine, inas- 

 much as it possesses powerful stimulant and sudorific 



