718 



A HISTORY OF 



Of all animals, the Gekko is the most no- 

 torious for its powers of mischief; yet we are 

 told by those who load it with that calumny, 

 that it is very friendly to man, and though 

 supplied with the most deadly virulence, is 

 yet never known to bite. It would he absurd 

 in us, without experience, to pronounce upon 

 the noxious or inoffensive qualities of animals: 

 yet it is most probable, from an inspection of 

 the teeth of lizards, and from their inoffensive 

 qualities in Europe, that the gekko has been 

 unjustly accused; and that its serpent-like 

 figure has involved it in one common reproach 

 with serpents. 



The salamander best known in Europe, is 

 from eight to eleven inches long, usually 

 black, spotted with yellow ; and, when taken 

 in the hand, feeling cold to a great degree. 

 There are several kinds. Our Black Water- 

 Newt is reckoned among the number. The 

 idle report of its being inconsumable in fire, 

 has caused many of these poor animals to be 

 burnt ; but we cannot say as philosophical 

 martyrs, since scarcely any philosopher could 

 think it necessary to make the experiment. 

 When thrown into the fire the animal is seen 

 to burst with the heat of its situation, and to 

 eject its fluids. We are gravely told, in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, that this is a 

 method the animal takes to extinguish the 

 flames ! 



When examined internally, the salamander 

 exhibits little difference from other animals of 

 the lizard kind. It is furnished with lungs 

 that sometimes serve for the offices of breath- 

 jng ; with a heart that has its communications 

 open, so that the animal cannot easily be 

 drowned. The ovary in the female is double 

 the size of what it is in others of this tribe ; 

 and the male is furnished with four testiculi 

 instead of two. But what deserves particu- 

 lar notice is the manner of this animal's bring- 

 in forth its young alive." "The salamander," 

 says my author, " begins to show itself in 

 spring, and chiefly during heavy rains. When 

 the warm weather returns, it disappears; and 

 never leaves its hole, during either great 

 heats or severe colds, both which it equally 

 fears. When taken in the hand, it appears 



Acta Hafniensia, ann. 1676. Observ. 11. Memoires 

 de 1'Academie Royale des Sciences, torn. iii. part 3. p. 80. 



like a lump of ice; it consequently loves the 

 shade, and is found at the feet of old trees 

 surrounded with brushwood at the bottom. 

 It is fond of running along new ploughed 

 grounds; probably to seek lor worms, which 

 are its ordinary food. One of these," con- 

 tinues my author, " 1 took alive some years 

 ago in a ditch that had been lately made. I 

 laid it at the foot of the stairs upon coming 

 home, and there it disgorged from the throat 

 a worm three inches long, that lived for an 

 hour after, though wounded as I suppose by 

 the teeth of the animal. I afterwards cut up 

 another of these lizards, and saw not less 

 than fifty young ones, resembling the parent, 

 come from its womb, all alive, and actively 

 running about the room." It were to be 

 wished the author had used another word 

 beside that of worm; as we now are in doubt 

 whether he means a real worm, or a young 

 animal of the lizard species : had he been 

 more explicit, and had it appeared that it was 

 a real young lizard, which I take to be his 

 meaning, we might here see a wonder of na- 

 ture brought to the proof, which many have 

 asserted, and many have thought proper to 

 deny : I mean the refuge which the young of 

 the shark, the lizard, and the viper kinds, are 

 said to take, by running down the throat of 

 the parent, and there finding a temporary 

 security. The fact, indeed, seems a little ex- 

 traordinary ; and yet it is so frequently at- 

 tested by some, and even believed by others, 

 whose authority is respectable, among the 

 number of whom we find Mr. Pennant, that 

 the argument of strangeness must give way 

 to the weight of authority. 



However this be, there is no doubt of the 

 animal's being viviparous, and producing 

 above fifty at a time. They come from the 

 parent in full perfection, and quickly leave 

 her to shift for themselves. These animals, 

 in the lower ranks of nature, want scarcely 

 any help when excluded ; they soon complete 

 the little circle of their education ; and in a 

 day or two are capable of practising all the 

 arts of subsistence and evasion practised by 

 their kind. 



They are all amphibious, or at least are 

 found capable of subsisting in either element, 

 when placed tlwre : if those taken from land 

 are put into water, they continue there in 



