On Animals depicted on Antique Munwnenis. 75 



ter g is probably left out, which would make it 2«t;g<is, signify- 

 ing a lizard. 



III. Ophidia. 



The largest of the Ophidia which is figured upon the mosaic 

 has been considered by all commentators as the giant serpent, 

 so named, they state, on account of its enormous size. In truth, 

 according to Diodorus Siculus (lib, ii. p. 149 ; also lib. iii. p. 169; 

 and also lib. i. p. S9), it existed to a very great size in Ethiopia, 

 and also in the islands which are formed by the Nile. But the 

 question occurs, To what precise species are we to refer this gi- 

 gantic serpent ? It is unquestionably of the python or boa kind, 

 genera in which we find the largest known species. As respect- 

 able naturalists have affirmed that the serpents to which the 

 name boa has been given all came from America, if this be true, 

 the species represented on the mosaic must necessarily be one of 

 the great pythones of Africa, similar to that which Augustus 

 exhibited at Rome in the games of the Circus, and which, they 

 assure us, was sixty feet long, or like to that which was besieged 

 by Regulus' army. 



Finally, the last of the Ophidia, which is found on the mosaic, 

 was known to the ancients under the name of Ophilini. I*^ ap- 

 pears that it may be referred to the variety Haje, or the Vipera 

 hqje of Geoffroy de St Hilaire. It is known that this species is 

 still frequently met with in Egypt, and that jugglers have the 

 art of taming it. 



There are still some other animals represented upon this an- 

 tique of Praeneste ; but as they are invertebral animals, and 

 more particularly crabs, regarding the classification of which 

 there can be no great certainty, we think we need not say more 

 upon the subject. However, that we may still exhibit the care 

 which the artist has taken accurately to copy the different ob- 

 jects he has introduced into the picture, we shall say a few 

 words on the plants that are found on it. 



AVe may, in the first place, remark, that these vegetables 

 have been already recognised by M. de Jussieu, whose very 

 name carries authority with it. At the side of the porch, where 

 the Emperor Adrian is standing, we observe a cocoa-palm tree 

 loaded with its fruit. Behind the porcli there stands a juniper 



