ORDER SAURIA. - 239 



hunted with a sort of fury. The inhabitants of the deserts 

 cause it to be dried, and send it thus to Grand Cairo and 

 Alexandria, where the pharmacopolists of Europe and Asia 

 come to provide themselves with it. 



White, under the denomination of the scincdid, has spoken 

 of a reptile of New Holland, which has the greatest relations 

 of form, of size, and even of colour, with the Egyptian skink, 

 and which Daudin believes to be only a variety of it. 



There is a species called galley-wasp, in the West Indies 

 (Lacerta Occidua, Shaw), which is placed among the skinks. 

 It is considerably larger than the last, being more than a foot 

 in length. It frequents the Antilles and Jamaica in particu- 

 lar, where, according to Sloane, it is amphibious, and is 

 attached to marshy situations. It is at least partial to humi- 

 dity, and conceals itself under the rocks. Like many other 

 saurians it has also the name of mabouia, which the negro 

 slaves bestow upon all hideous and maleficant beings. 



In Jamaica, it is believed, but without adequate evidence, 

 that the bite of this large skink is extremely venomous, and 

 causes immediate death. 



There is another skink, also called mabouia, but, as our 

 author remarks, improperly so called, in the West Indies, 

 and which the negroes in like manner consider as maleficent. 

 It climbs trees with dexterity, and runs rapidly over the 

 cabins of the natives and slaves ; but its most usual retreat is 

 in the holes of old rotten trees, from which it seldom issues 

 but during the very hot weather. 



Among the skinks destitute of palatal teeth, is the species 

 we have figured, under the name of Sc'incus tiliqua, from a 

 specimen brought from Malta by the Rev. Mr. Heunah. 



The word Seps is employed to designate an animal which 

 some have considered as a lizard, and others as a serpent. 

 It comes from the Greek word a-nvuv, to corrupt. Anatomy 

 approximates the seps to the skinks, but the habits, movements. 



