158 OUR REPTILES. 



of coarse you take care that they do not get back 

 again. The dry ask, in addition to this bad 

 character, is also supposed to be endowed with the 

 power of the ' evil eye ' — children and cows exposed 

 to its gaze wasting away. The Kev. J. Graves states 

 that in Kilkenny it is looked on as 4 a devil's beast,' 

 and, as such, burnt. But to compensate in some 

 measure for its evil qualities, the dry ask is said in 

 Dublin to bear in it a charm. Any one desirous of the 

 power of curing scalds or burns has only to apply 

 the tongue along the dry ask's belly to obtain the 

 power of curing these ailments by a touch of that 

 organ. In the Queen's County it is also used to 

 cure disease, but in a different way ; being put into 

 an iron pot under the patient's bed, it is said to 

 effect a certain cure, though of what disease I am 

 not quite clear."* 



Lord Clermont's excellent description of this 

 reptile may usefully close this chapter : — 



The whole of the skin is quite smooth, without 

 any tubercles ; on the top of the head are two rows 

 of pores ; occasionally there are a few distinct pores 

 on the sides, forming an indistinct lateral line ; the 

 collar beneath the throat very inconspicuous; the 

 male in the breeding season furnished with a crest, 

 which runs continuously from the top of the head 



* The Zoologist, p. 4355. 



