THE NATURAL HISTORY 



[LETT. 



words. Speaking of the opercula or coverings to the gills of 

 the Mud inguana, he proceeds to say that " the form of these 

 pennated coverings approaches very near to what I have some 

 time ago observed in the larva or aquatic state of our English 

 Lacerta, known by the name of eft or newt: which serve them for 

 coverings to their gills, and for fins to swim with while in this 

 state ; and which they lose, as well as the fins of their tails, when 



HREATHAM CHURCH. 



they change their state and become land animals, as I have 

 observed, by keeping them alive for some time myself." 



Linnaeus, in his " Systema Naturae," hints more than once at 

 what Mr. Ellis advances. 



Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow of but one 

 venomous reptile of the serpent kind in these kingdoms, and 

 that is the viper. As you propose the good of mankind to be 



