THE DRAGON: A FANCY OR A FACT 117 



actually are the modified arms or fore-limbs), as an extra 

 pair of limbs rooted in the back. 

 The wyvern and the cockatrice and 

 the basilisk (Fig. 20) (which, like 

 the Gorgon Medusa, can strike a 

 man dead by the mere glance of 

 the eye) are remarkable for con- 

 forming to the invariable vertebrate 

 standard of no more than two pairs 

 of limbs, whether legs, wings, or 

 fins. The name " lind-worm " is 

 given to a wyvern without wings 

 (hence the Linton Worm and the 

 Laidley Worm 



FIG. 19. The heraldic 

 wyvern. 



of Lambton), and 

 appears in various heraldic devices 

 and in legendary art ; whilst in the 

 arms of the Visconti of Milan we climb 

 down to a quite simple serpent-like 

 creature without legs or wings, known 

 as the " guivre." 



Without looking further into the 

 basilisk, also called strange and fantastic catalogue of 

 the Amphysian imaginary monsters, one must recog- 



r:d n: -> ** * fa a *. of ^ ta . 



terest to trace the origin of these 

 marvellous creations of human fancy, 

 and the way in which they have first 

 of all been brought into pictorial exist- 

 ence, and then variously modified and 

 finally stereotyped and maintained by 

 tradition and art. It has not infre- 

 quently been suggested, since geolo- 

 creature is the head gists made us acquainted with the 



and which is the tail. , c i j 11- 



bones of huge and strange-looking 

 fossil reptiles dug from ancient rocks, that the tradi- 



FlG. 20. The heraldic 



the end of its tail a 

 feature due to per- 

 version of the obser- 

 vation that there are 

 some snake -like crea- 

 tures (Amphisbena) 

 with so simple a 

 head that it is at first 

 sight difficult to say 

 which end of the 



