400 



HISTORY OF FROGS, LIZARDS, AND SERPENTS. 



feeds upon fire as its proper nourishment As 

 they saw every other element, the air, the 

 earth, and water, inhabited, fancy was set to 

 work to find or make an inhabitant in fire ; 

 and thus to people every part of nature. It 

 will be needless to say that there is no such 

 animal existing ; and that of all others, the 

 modern salamander has the smallest affinity to 

 such an abode. 



Whether the animal that now goes by the 

 name of Salamander be the same with that 

 described by Pliny, it is a doubt with me ; but 

 this is not a place for the discussion. It is 

 sufficient to observe, that the modern salaman- 

 der is an animal of the lizard kind, and under 

 this name is comprehended a large tribe that 

 all go by the same name. There have been 

 not less than seven sorts of this animal des- 

 cribed by Seba ; and to have some idea of the 

 peculiarity of their figure, if we suppose the 

 tail of a lizard applied to the body of a frog, 

 we shall not be far from precision. The com- 

 mon lizard is long, small, and taper ; the sala- 

 mander, like the frog, has its eyes towards the 

 back of the head ; like the frog, its snout 



salamanders have a tail flattened sideways, so as to as- 

 sist them in swimming. 



The experiments of Spallanzani, on their astonishing 

 power of reproducing a limb, have rendered them fa- 

 mous. The same limb can be reproduced several times 

 in succession, after it has been cut off, and that with all 

 its bones, muscles, &c. Another faculty, not less sin- 

 gular, is that of remaining a long time encompassed with 

 ice without perishing. 



The salamanders were erroneously placed by Linnauis 

 among the lizards, but they have been most properly 

 transferred to the order to which they now belong, and 

 to. which they bear a much greater affinity, especially 

 from their transformations. The following cut repre- 

 sents the Gigantic Salamander. 



Although it is called gigantic, in reference to the size 

 of most of the genus, it does not exceed eighteen inches 

 in length. Some few years back, however, a salaman- 

 der was discovered in Japan, to which the name gigan- 

 tic might be applied with much greater propriety. A 

 living specimen was taken, and conveyed to the museum 

 at Leydeu five years since; it was then about twelve 

 inches long, but it has since then grown to the length of 

 two feet and a half, although confined in a wooden ves- 

 sel containing water. It is of a very dark olive-green 

 colour, and covered with tubercles, nearly resembling in 

 form the species represented in the engraving. It feeds 

 sparingly on small living fish which are placed in its 

 prison ; its appetite, however, only recurs at long inter- 

 vals, and its destined prey seem perfectly unconscious of 

 the presence of an enemy, and when alarmed, take re- 

 fuge under the very jaws of the reptile. 



is round, and not pointed, and its belly 

 thick and swollen. The claws of ils toes 

 are short and feeble ; its skin rough ; and 

 the tongue, unlike that of the smallest of the 

 lizard kind, in which it is long and forked, is 

 short, and adhering to the under jaw. 



But it is not in figure that this animal 

 chiefly differs from the rest of the lizard tribe ; 

 for it seems to differ in nature and conforma- 

 tion. In nature it is unlike, being a heavy 

 torpid animal ; whereas the lizard tribe are 

 active, restless, and ever in motion ; in confor- 

 mation it is unlike, as the salamander is pro- 

 duced alive from the body of its parent, and is 

 completely formed the moment of its exclu- 

 sion. It differs from them also in its general 

 reputation of being venomous : however, no 

 trials that have been hitherto made seem to 

 confirm the truth of the report. 



Not only this, but many others of the lizard 

 tribe, are said to have venom ; but it were to 

 be wished that mankind, for their own happi- 

 ness, would examine into the foundation of 

 this reproach. By that means many of them, 

 that are now shunned and detested, might be 

 found inoffensive ; their figure, instead of 

 either exciting horror or disgust, would then 

 only tend to animate the general scene of na- 

 ture ; and speculation might examine their 

 manners in confidence and security. Certain 

 it is, that all the lizard kind, with which we 

 are acquainted in this country, are perfectly 

 harmless ; and it is equally true that, for a 

 long time, till our prejudices were removed, 

 we considered not only the Newt, but the 

 Snake and the Blind-worm, as fraught with 

 the most destructive poison. At present we 

 have got over these prejudices ; and, it is pro- 

 bable, that if other nations made the same 

 efforts for information, it would be found, that 

 the malignity of most, if not all, of the lizard 

 tribe, was only in the imagination. 



With respect to the salamander, the whole 

 tribe, from the Moron to the Gekko, are said 

 to be venomous to the last degree ; yet, when 

 experiments have been tried, no arts, no pro- 

 vocations, could excite these animals to the 

 rage of biting. They seem timid and inoffen- 

 sive, only living upon worms and insects ; quite 

 destitute of fangs, like the viper, their teeth 

 are so very small that they are hardly able to 

 inflict a wound. But as the teeth are thus 

 incapable of offending, the people of the coun- 

 tries where they are found have recourse to a 

 venomous slaver, which, they suppose, issues 

 from the animal's mouth ; they also tell us of 

 a venom issuing from the claws ; even Lin- 

 nasus seems to acknowledge the fact ; but 

 thinks it a probable supposition that this ve- 

 nom may proceed from their urine. 



Of all animals, the Gekko is the most no- 

 torious for its powers of mischief ; yet we are 



