THE SAND LIZARD. 27 



many, Switzerland, Poland, Northern Russia, 

 in Siberia, 'and generally through central Europe. 

 It appears to occur freely in the neighbourhood 

 of Poole, but we do not remember to have met 

 with records of its occurrence in the North of 

 England, or in Scotland, although it may have 

 been confounded with the foregoing, especially 

 as it is evidently a Northern rather than a 

 Southern species. 



Unlike the Scaly Lizard, which is in reality 

 the common lizard with us, it is oviparous, the 

 female laying twelve or more eggs in the sand, 

 and leaving them to be hatched by the heat of 

 the sun. She hollows out a cavity, or rude nest, 

 for the purpose, and covers her eggs with the 

 sand. It possesses a ' snappish ' temper, is 

 not readily domesticated, and refuses food under 

 confinement. Like other reptiles, it passes its 

 winters in a state of repose. 



The liver, bile, excrements, and eggs of the 

 Lizard were in former times employed as remedies 

 in certain diseases, and the entire animal has 

 been proposed as a substitute for the Scink, a 

 reptile allied to the Lizards, which had a great 

 reputation in olden times, the use of which has 

 very recently been attempted to be revived. 

 Dr. Gosse, of Geneva, has maintained that the 

 ancients were justified in employing the Scink in 

 medicine, inasmuch as it possesses powerful 



