28 VERTEBRATA. REPTILIA. 



most heterogeneous and contradictory. Of these im- 

 aginary creatures none have been more renowned 

 than the Dragon, a monster depicted with supernatu- 

 ral power and ferocity, with a hideous form bristling 

 with spinous crests, covered with scaly armour, fur- 

 nished with terrible fangs, and an envenomed tongue, 

 with spiny wings and barbed tail, vomiting flames ; 

 the guardian of hidden treasure, or the scourge and 

 devastation of nations. " Rendered celebrated," says 

 Lacepede, " by the songs of Greece and Rome ; the 

 principal ornament of pious fables imagined in more 

 recent times ; conquered by heroes, and even by 

 youthful heroines, who were contending for a divine 

 law ; adopted by a second mythology, which placed 

 the fairies on the throne of the enchantresses of old, 

 the emblem of the splendid actions of valiant knights, 

 he has enlivened modern, as he animated ancient 

 poetry. 



" Proclaimed by the severe voice of history ; every- 

 where described, everywhere celebrated, everywhere 

 dreaded ; exhibited under all forms ; always clothed 

 with tremendous power, and immolating his victims 

 by a single glance ; transporting himself through the 

 midst of the clouds with the rapidity of lightning ; 

 dissipating the darkness of night by the terrific splen- 

 dour of his glaring eyes ; uniting the agility of the 

 eagle, the strength of the lion, the magnitude of the 

 giant serpent ; sometimes presented under a human 

 figure, endowed with an intelligence almost divine, 

 and adored, even in our own days, in the great em- 

 pires of the east ; the Dragon, in short, has been all 



