Lizard imbedded in Stone. 149 
Pliny’s description of the unicorn is a sort of medium between 
Mr. Campbell’s account, and the animal depicted on the royal 
coat of arms. It is as follows :—‘* Asperrimam esse feram, reli- 
quo corpore similem equo, capite cervo, pedibus elephanti, cauda 
apro, mugitu gravi, uno cornu nigro media fronte cubitorum 
duum eminente.”’ 
Our readers are aware that measures have been taken to obtain 
a complete specimen of the animal supposed to be the unicorn, 
which is said to exist in considerable numbers in Thibet. ‘The 
description which has hitherto been furnished us rests entirely on 
the evidence of natives; but as it differs in several essential points 
from Mr. Campbell’s account of the African unicorn, the scien- 
tific world will be anxious to compare the specimens as soon as 
they are enabled to do so. Mr. Campbell’s demonstration is the 
best as yet, and will probably never be excelled. (Asiatic Journal.) 
LIZARD IMBEDDED IN STONE. 
In our last Number we mentioned a curious instance which 
had occurred at Auchtertool in Scotland, of a lizard being found 
imbedded in a large block of stone. The phenomenon is thus 
ingeniously attempted to be accounted for in a work which Mr, 
Welch, of Stonehouse, Devon, has in the press, entitled Re/igiosa 
Philosop hia. ‘ 
‘« This phenomenon,” says the author, “is a further testi- 
mony in favour of the principle of the present work; and if the 
author may be allowed to venture an opinion how the lizard be- 
came imbedded, and by what means it was preserved in this solid 
mass of stone, he offers the following: 
‘* Nature, in all her operations, evinces a peculiar tenacity in 
preserving the principle of life, both in the vegetable and animal 
kingdoms: hence it is that the seeds of many plants preserve the 
germ, or vivifying principle, through a series of years; whilst the 
eggs of birds, situated so as to exclude them froin the effects of 
atmospheric air, retain their fecundity for a considerable length 
of time. Having thus premised, I proceed to state, that the ova 
or spawn* of a lizard was, either by means of water, or some 
other cause, conveyed into a situation where Nature was pre- 
paring this stone; that the sand, whilst forming around the ova, 
gradually became expanded, from a principle of life which the 
egg contained, and which, being surrounded by its own atmo- 
sphere, arising from native heat, tended to bring forth the animal, 
whilst the same cause produced a sufficient cavity to contain it 
when arrived to its full size. Now as the lizard, when first taken 
* The egg or spawn of some species of the lizard is covered with a shell 
of hard calcareous substance, considerably thicker than that of the egg of a 
bird, consequently less brittle in its nature. 
* out 
