CHAPTER XIV. 



THE LIZARDS. 



Order, LACERTILIA. Family, Lacertidce. Genus, Lacerta. 

 Species, agilis. 



THUS far, with the exception of the viper, the members of my 

 reptilian family have been represented as such amiable individuals 

 that my readers may suspect me of undue partiality; a charge 

 which they will retract on their own personal acquaintance with 

 the subjects in question. Bell records a case of the slow- 

 worm turning to bite any one who touched it, and even clinging 

 with its teeth. Well, but for the way in which slow-worms snap 

 at their food when feeding, one might have almost doubted their 

 capability of biting. It is true that mine underwent no dental 

 examination; nor were they subject to any rougher handling than 

 might be bestowed on other such brittle ware ; to retreat and to 

 burrow was the only impulse they betrayed. But now, truth 

 compels me to affirm that the male Laceria agilis at once 

 displayed an aggressive viciousness of temper that would be 

 deplorable were it not ridiculous. He not only turned to bite 

 whenever approached, but held on to the finger so persistently as 

 to be carried about the house on exhibition thus pendent. His 

 feeble little jaws could, of course, inflict no injury ; therefore, his 

 spiteful efforts to grip the harder whenever touched, as he thus 

 hung, were simply laughable, reminding one of the fly on the 

 bull's horn, only lacking the fly's polite apologies. If he happened 

 to grip a fleshy part of the hand you might afterwards almost 

 count the number of his teeth, from the two little rows of in- 

 dentations, like a \f. The skin was never penetrated. To do 

 him justice this temper lasted only a few days ; and very soon he 

 was the tamest of the family, which, at that time, consisted of 

 himself and two ladies agilis, and five of Z. zootica. In colour 

 he was of a fine peacock green, darker above, and of a lighter 

 and beautiful tint beneath ; his throat almost white, but with that 

 greenish iridescence. Four examples of these male Lacertas from 



