HERPETOLOGY. 



Swriui Ijtceria oceflala. Linn, a Gmel. 1077. 



Rrptilei. gl. S. laleralis. Variegated S. Ash-coloured 

 7~" nbove, with'transverse rows of black spot, with oblong 

 white dots in the middle ; black longitudinal lines, 

 (Jotted below with white upon the sides; tail shorter 

 than the body, and ending suddenly in a point. 

 I* S. a bandes lalerales, Daud. iv. p. 314. 

 Of all these species, the first or Egyptian scink is the 

 most celebrated, both from the high estimation in which 

 it is held by the natives, and for its having been once 

 employed in Europe as a medicine. It is a small ani- 

 mal, seldom exceeding six or seven inches in length, 

 and is of a pale yellowish brown colour. In its man- 

 ners it is perfectly harmless ; and so active in its mo- 

 tions, that it hides itself in the sand in an instant. 

 This species is so numerous in some parts of the East, 

 that several thousands of them have been seen at once 

 in the great court of the temple of the Sun at Balbec. 

 The ground, the walls, and scattered stones of these 

 ruinous buildings, were covered with them, exhibiting 

 a beautiful appearance from their glittering colours, as 

 they lay basking in the sun. See Bruce's Travels. 

 * , 



GENUS XV. SEPS. EFTS. 



"irs G<- Body, neck, and tail very long, thin, cylindrical, and 

 covered with imbricated scales of a roundish or ellipti- 

 cal form. Head thin, oblong, covered above with few 

 scales ; tongue rather thick, short, and slightly cleft at 

 its tip. Either four or two feet extremely short, sim- 

 ple, very slender, scaly, furnished with one, two, three, 

 four, or five toes, indistinct, sometimes with claws, 

 sometimes without. 



The animals which compose this genus so nearly re- 

 semble some of the serpents, as scarcely to be distin- 

 guished from them by a casual observer. Indeed, if 

 we except the short and often indistinct feet, and the 

 marks of an external auditory orifice, they possess almost 

 all the other characters of serpents ; and accordingly 

 several of them have been ranked among the Ophidian 

 reptiles. In their habitudes and manners, they nearly 

 resemble the scinks, though, from the shortness of their 

 feet, their motions are rather those of snakes than li- 



8p* c *** < zards. Daudin enumerates six species, arranged under 

 the two following sections. 



SECT. I. Four-footed, Efts. 



Species 1. Seps pentadactulus. Five-toed Eft. Five 

 toes on each foot, furnished with claws ; bay or ash co- 

 loured alxjve, with numerous longitudinal brown streaks; 

 whitish below. See Plate CCXCVIII. Fig. 1?. 



Le Seps quadrupcde pentadactyk, Daud. iv. p. 325. 



Lacerta serpens, Linn, a Gmel. p. 1078. 



2. S. Iridaclylus. Three-toed E. Feet furnished 

 with three extremely short toes without nails ; bay or 

 ash colour abovCj with four longitudinal brown streaks ; 

 paJer below. 



Le S. quatlrupede triJaclyle, Daud. iv. p. 333, pi. Ivii. 



S. S. monodactylus. One-toed E. Feet extremely 

 thin and short, composed of one toe without claw ; tail 

 three times as long as the body ; scales subimbricate, 

 and slightly carinated. 



Le 8. quadrupfde monodactyle, Daud. iv. p, 342, pjate 

 Iviii. fig. 1. 



Lacerta anguina, Linn, a Gmel. p. 1079. 



SECT. II. Tmo-footed Efts. 

 frii 4. S. schneidcrii. Schneiderian S. Whitish above, 



Pentadacty. 

 luc. 



PLATE 

 CCXCTIII. 

 Pig. 17. 



t'ridictylui. 



Mnnodac. 

 lyliu. 



with a brown line ; brown below ; feet remote from Sauriaa 

 the anus, extremely short, either two or three-toed ; Reptiles.^ 

 toes without claws, and as if arising from a common "~^Y~~ / 

 pedicle. 



Le 5. sc/meiderieii, Daud. iv. p. 348. 



5. S. sheltonusifr. Sheltopusik S. Head and body ghcltopu- 

 without distinct separation ; tail long and round, as s jk. 

 well as the body, covered with pale imbricated scales ; 

 rudiments of hinder feet only, two-toed, and without 



claws, at the anus. 



Le S. bipedesheltopusik, Daud. iv. p. 351. 

 Lacerta apoc/a, Linn, a Gmel. p. 1079. 



6. S.gronovii. Gronovian E. Dorsal scales dotted Gronovu; 

 with brown ; tail smooth at the tip ; hinder feet only, 



very short, with one toe and no claw. 



Le S. gronovien, Daud. iv. p. 354, pi. Iviii. fig. 2. 

 Lacerta bipes, Linn, a Gmel p. 1079. 



GENUS XVI. CHALCJDES. CHALCIDES. 



These reptiles differ from those of the last genus only CuAi,et- 

 in the disposition of the scales that cover the body and DES c,tnus. 

 tail, which, instead of being imbricated as in the seps, 

 are arranged in rings, or verticillated. They inhabit 

 similar situations, and have similar manners. There 

 are four species, of which three are four-footed, and one 

 two-footed. 



SECT. I. Four-fooled Chalcid.es. 



Species 1. Chalcides lelrarlactyhis. Four- toed Chal- Tetradacty 

 cides. Scales of the belly hexagonal, with a longitudi- lus< 

 nal furrow on each side of the body ; feet four-toed. 



Lechalcidequadrupedetelradactt/le, Daud. iv. p 362. 



2. C. tridactylus. Three-toed C. Feet three toed, Tridacty- 

 very short, and without claws ; tail a little longer than lus. 



the body. See Plate CCXCVIII. Fig. 18. I>LATE 



Le Chalcide quadrupcde tridaclyle, Daud. iv. p. 367, CCXCVI11 - 



pi. Iviii. fig. 3. _ F * 18 



Le Chalcide, Lacepede, ii. part 5i. art. 52. 



3. C. monodactylus. One-toed C. Feet short and Monochc- 

 very slender, with one toe without claw ; tail once and tyluj- 



a half the length of the body, and cylindrical. 

 Le C. quadrvpcde monodactyle, Daud. iv. p. 370. 



SECT. II. Tmo-footed Chalcides. 



4. C. propus. Grooved C. Fore feet only with five Propus, 

 toes, of which four are clawed and one naked ; each side 



of the body longitudinally furrowed. 



Le C. iipede canncle, Daud. iv. p. 372. pi. Iviii. fig. 4. 



Bipede cannele, Lacepede, ii. p. 325. 



Several remains of Saurian reptiles, in a fossil state, 

 have been discovered in the bowels of the earth, parti- 

 cularly the bones of two species or varieties of croco- 

 dile, nearly allied to the gavial, but considered by Cu- 

 vier as distinct from that species. These remains of 

 crocodiles have been found near Honfleur, Mons, An- 

 gers, and Havre in France ; at Altorf in Bavaria ; at 

 Elston near Newark, in the English county of Netting- 

 ham ; and on the coast of Whitby in Yorkshire. See. 

 Annqles de Museum, torn. xii. p. 73, and Phil. Trans. 

 vol. xxx. p. 963, and vol. 1. p. 688, and 786. There 

 have besides been found in the mountains of St Pierre, 

 near Maastricht, some enormous bones of a Saurian rep- 

 tile, which have occasioned some dispute between 

 MM. St Fond and Cuvier ; the former alleging them 

 to be the remains of a gavial crocodile, and the latter ar- 

 guing, with much plausibility, that although so large^ 



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