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"It is a liid.-ous looking creature, of a dirty-black OOlor, stupid und nluggiah in it* move- 



iii. in- 'I'd.- n-iial i-n-iii of a full grown one te about a yard, l>m 



f--i l-.iij 1 have wen a large one which weigh*- 1 t.-nt\ jiounds. These Ibmrds an ooca- 



-iouaih s.-en s,,me hundred yards from the shore - miming about, and Captain Oollnett in his 



\oxair- sa\s tli:it the\ p. out to sea in shoals to catch fiah. With respe< 



l-li-\- In- is mistaken, l.iit tli.- farts stat.-.l on such good authoriu .-annot ! iloiilit.-l 



\\ li.-n in ili.- \\at-r. tli>- animal swims \\itli |.-rf.-<t qam and quick nma by a serpentine 

 in.. \.-ni.-nt of its Unly and flattened tail, th- 1-ir. during this time being i-rf.-.il\ mottonkai 

 ami . -los, -i\ collapsed on ita sides. A aeaman on board sunk one with a heavy weight 

 atta.-h. -1 t.. it, thinking thin to kill it dinvtly, l.iit when, an hour afterwards, he drew up 

 ili-' lim, ; ; .'- iJKinl ..!- unit. nctivi rheii Im,'-. .,-, | -!!,,],_ olftWI m a.lnmai. 

 for crawling ov-r th- rugged and tiasurwl mamra of lava which everywhere form the 

 In -n. -li situation-, a group of six or seven of tit.- hidi>us reptiles may oftentimes be 

 th- I -lark rocks, a f-w f.--t above the surf, baMking in the sun with outetrvtrhed legs." 



In this n-ptil- th- throat is not formwl into u |-n<l-nt jiurh. luit the -kin i* much 

 cii:mj.l.-d, M, that the animal <iin dilate it at will. The whole body in covered with itharp, 

 rough, tubercular scales, and a crwt of longer scales runs along the back. The Uwth are 

 sharp and thr-- loU-1. ami although, when the wide mouth in opened, they present a very 

 formidable array of \\ea|ins. th- creature ia quit harmless, and feeds on vegetable diet, 

 seaweeds forming th- chief jwirt of ita subsistence. Th- middle toes ore united by a strong 

 web, and the claws are large. Then- is some difference in the atipect of th- \oiing and julult, 



t!ii- distinction IN . in <l oh ious in the '. .>!. vtal BH nal-s an- rathei \ in ih.- 



young, but in the adult are enlarged into unequal and rather high tubercular shi.-ld- 



Of the family I<imtiti<l<r th-r- an- al>oiit sixty genent, and on- hundred and fifty 

 sjKfi-s, all ol North and BovA UMtim and ill- \niill.- \..-..rdinj t.. I1..|I.|..K. f..ur 

 genera of this family are known in the United States. 



IN the earlier ages of science, when a few forts were struggling their way through the 

 superincumbent moas of fiction that had ao long caused Natural Histoi \ to > little more than 

 a collection of moral fables, the BASILIHC waa a creature upon whose wondrous properties the 

 inventiv- i-n- f successive narrators were never tired of dilating. Crowned with a royal 

 diadem, -inlilematical of its sovereign nil-, th- Hasilis,- held supreme away over the reptil- 

 race, and derives its name of Ha.silis<-. or kinglike, " Ix-cau*- he wetn.-th to U- the Kin of 

 Serpents, not for his magnitude or greatness -. For there are many serpento bigger than he, 

 as there be many four-footed beasts bigger than the lyon, but because of his stately face and 

 magnanimous minde." 



The Baailisc waa thought to be on occasional Jnxn* natunr, having during his lif.- no 

 companion of his own kind, and to derive hi- .\i-t-nce from on egg laid by acock when he 

 was very old, and sat upon by a snake. Som- scientific writers, however, better informed 

 than the more popular zoologists, said that the egg was not incubated by a snake, but by a 



toad. 



Before the Baailisc all living creatures but one were forced to fly, and even man would 

 fall dead from the glance of the kingly reptile's eye. " This poyson," says Topael, " infecU>th 

 the air, and the air so infected killeth all living things, and likewise all green things, fruit- 

 and plants of the earth : it burneth np the graase whereupon it goeth or creepeth, and th- 

 fowls of the air fall down dead when they come near his den or lodging. Sometimes be biteth 

 a man or beast, and by that wound the hlood turneth into choler, and ao the whole body 

 becometh yellow or gold, presently killing all that touch it or come near it." l^n . 

 horseman who had taken into his hand a spear which had been thrust through a Baailiac, 

 did not only draw the poyson of it into his own body and so dyed, but also killed his hone 



thereby 



The only creature that could stand before the Baailisc and live, was said to be the cock, 

 whose shrill Clarion the bird-reptile held fa such terror, that on hearing the sound it fled into 



f fetarf nd ta oaandU n-if tawaiaa, tonta* rfco*** farad to 



