TIIK Ml.nric MONITOR, OR VARAN OF TUB MLB, 41 



toes that it UTOMI.- a task of no small .lihViilt\ (..dislodge it, even though it he easily readied. 

 I nd.-r such rirvumstanc.-.s tlte strength of no one man is abli- t>. v.ithdniw a full-grown indi- 

 viduul, and I have seen two pemM required to pull a *|vim-a out ..f a |.sitiou it had 

 attained, even \\ith th.- assistance of a rope tied in front of it.s hinder legs. Tin- moiu.-nt it 

 .i- .ii~l.-i. i ; ll-w with Fur itl it.s i-n,-mies> wfe> b] ;!:.. .,<.:> v-d <.. n.-. h.- bm 

 being bitten. After it was kill.-, I. it was discovered that the points ,,f all the nails had been 

 previously br.k.-n or at the moment it lost its hold. 





WHITKTUHOATKD KKUKXU J 



"It feeds upon crabs, frogs, and small quadrupeds, and from its partiality to the t 

 former, it is often found among rocks near running streams, which fact having been observed 

 i<\ the natives, has led them to regard it as sacred, and not to be injured without danger 

 of drought." 



This fine Lizard has large, oblique nostrils, a shortish tail with a double k--l on it uj>|-r 

 surface, and the scales are oblong and have a blunt ridjw or keel. The head is short and tin- 

 scales of the body are large, convex, and surrounded with granulations. The length of tin- 

 full -grown Regenia is nearly five feet, and it* color N dark brown, above variegated with large 

 white spots, and paler beneath, especially under the throat. 



TIIK NII ...i i< MONITOR, or VARAN OF i in N in , as it is sometimes railed, is, as its name 

 imports, a native of those parts of Africa through which tin- Nil'-, it.s favorit.- river, flown. 



The natives have a i-urious id, -a that this rvj.tili- is hatchM from cnN-odiN-'s eggs that have 

 been laid in hot elevated spots, and that in pnxvss of time it becomes a rrtN-.lil,- This odd 

 belief is analogous to the notion so firmly implanted in the minds of our own MM ride 



VOL. IIL-C 



