28 OUR EEPTILES. 



stimulant and sudorific properties, which might 

 be usefully employed in various diseases.* 



In Mr. P. L. Simmonds's interesting and 

 amusing " Curiosities of Food/' several species 

 of reptiles are enumerated as affording food to 

 the natives in the various countries in which 

 they are found. Of these, the Iguana holds one 

 of the chief places in public esteem. This is a 

 gigantic lizard found in many tropical countries, 

 where it attains a length of three feet, and has 

 flesh " which is reckoned as delicate as chicken, 

 and but little inferior to turtle in flavour." 

 Humboldt remarks that in inter- tropical South 

 America, all lizards which inhabit dry regions 

 are esteemed delicacies for the table. The gi- 

 gantic crocodile, alligator, gavial, and cayman, 

 are also served at repasts. This, however, is some- 

 what foreign to our subject, and all who are 

 interested in reptilian delicacies we must refer 

 to the book in question. 



The fossil Saurians of bygone ages were the 

 giants of those days. Dr. Mantell thought it 

 probable that the largest iguanodons may have 

 attained a length of from sixty to seventy feet. 

 The Labyrinthodons were also of considerable 

 size. Eemains and traces of numerous reptiles 

 have been found in the strata of our own islands. 



* See Moquin Tandon's " Medical Zoology," p. 69. 



