CLASS REPTILIA, 



are to be found in South America. The contrary is now 

 clearly proved. 



In 1811, M. Tiedemann published at Nuremberg a German 

 dissertation in quarto on the anatomy and natural history of 

 the dragon. 



Draco Lineatus, is a very rare reptile, which inhabits 

 the great woods of the Island of Java. The wings of Draco 

 viridis are membranous, adherent to the base of the thighs, 

 very broad, and each of them remarkable for six large 

 emarginations ; the scales under the body, the lov/er face 

 of the limbs and tail, are carinated. The colour is an vmiform 

 greenish, with the exception of the wings, which are of a very 

 pale brown, and are each of them marked with four trans- 

 verse brown bands, fringed at their edges with little white 

 points. 



This species is a little smaller, and more slender than 

 Di'aco Uneatus, but the wings are broader. Seba first des- 

 cribed it under the name of the winged dragon of America, 

 and subsequently figured it as the Jlying dragon of Africa. 

 Bontius has published a tolerably exact sketch of it, and that 

 ancient traveller informs us that this pretty reptile, which is 

 common enough in the Island of Java, inflates its yellowish 

 goitres when it flies, that it may be more light in the air, 

 without, however, being able to traverse any great space. 

 It only shoots from tree to tree, a distance of about thirty 

 paces, and produces by the agitation of its wings, a slight 

 noise. But he adds that it is neither venomous nor mis- 

 chievous. The inhabitants of Java handle it without fear, 

 and without danger, and it often becomes the prey of ser- 

 pents. 



Shaw, in his Miscellany, has given the figure of a flying 

 dragon, which appears to be the same as this, except, indeed, 

 that there are several sharp spines upon the neck. He says 

 that it inhabits Africa, and proceeds from tree to tree, 



