Lizards. 149 



feet long, two feet broad : its fhell refembles leather, and it is faid it 

 had teeth in each jaw, one rank behind another, like thofe of a fhark ; 

 its feet alfo wanted claws j the tail was quite difengaged from the (hell, 

 fifteen inches long, more refembling that of a quadruped than a tortoife. 

 Two or three have been taken on the coafts of Cornwall, in the year 1 756, 

 the largeft of which weighed eight hundred pounds. 



One, moft probably of this kind, was caught about thirty years ago 

 near Scarborough, and a good deal of company was invited to feaft upon 

 it ; a gentleman, who was one of the guefts, told the company that it was 

 a Mediterranean turtle, and not wholefomej but a perfon who was willing 

 to fatisfy his appetite at the rifque of his life, eat of it : he was fcized with 

 a violent vomiting and purging ; but his conftitution overpowered the 

 malignity of the poifon. 



OF LIZARDS. 



THIS tribe is the moft numerous of thofe which form the order of 

 oviparous quadrupeds, exceeding fifty fpecies. They may eafily 

 be diftinguifhed from others, by not having a fhell as tortoifes j yet hav- 

 ing a tail, which frogs and toads have not: they are clothed with fcales, 

 more or lefs ftrong, or tubercles, more or lefs prominent. The forms and 

 dimenfions of their tail vary greatly; in fome round, in others flat; in 

 fome extremely long, in others very Ihort. With refpedt to fize, no 

 clafs has its ranks fo oppofite from the fmall Cameleon, an inch long, 

 to the Alligator of the river Amazons, above twenty-feven feet. They 

 are found of a hundred different hues, green, blue, red, chefnut, yellow, 

 fpotted, ftreakcd, and marbled. The lizard would often pleafe by its 

 colours j but there is fomething in the animal's figure, counterafting the 

 brilliancy of its fcales, or the variety of its fpors, giving an air of ex- 

 quifite venom, or great malignity.. The figure of thefe animals is 

 not lefs various: fometimes fwollenin the belly; fometimes at the throat; 

 fomctimes with a fet of fpines on the back; fometimes with teeth; fome- 

 times without; fome venomous, others harmlefsj or philanthropic: 

 fome are viviparous, fome oviparous. Some bring forth fmall fpawn, 

 like fifhes. The larger kinds bring forth eggs, which are hatched by 

 the heat of the fun. The falamanders come forth alive, perfed and 

 aftive ; but thofe bred in water, and, as we fuppofe, from fpawn, fufFer 

 Par.t V. No. 28. C c a very 



