27* Medicinal Lizards. 



Bv David Hooper. 



In the bazars of Northern India dried lizards, in a well- 

 preserved condition, are frequently exposed for sale for medi- 

 cinal purposes. They are an article of regular consumption 

 and are often mentioned in works on Eastern medicine. Con- 

 sidering that animal products are rare, compared with the large 

 number of vegetable drugs employed in Hindu Materia Medica, 

 I have collected a few notes on this interesting subject. 



Dr. R. H. Irvine in "Materia Medica of Patna," 1848, 

 refers the drug " Reg Mahee " to the skink (Lacerta scincus, 

 Linn.), and informs us that it is imported from Kabul and is 

 used as a restorative and aphrodisiac. He alludes to the dried 

 and varnished state in which it is sold at Rs. 12 per pound, 

 and gives the dose at one to two drachms (60 to 120 grains). 

 Dr. J. M. Honigberger in " Thirty-five Years in the East " (1852) 

 states that Lacerta scincus is still used by Eastern doctors and 

 is recommended in leprosy. 



Baden Powell in "Economic Products of the Punjab," 



under animal substances of Lahore, says : " ' Reg mahi ' is a 



small lizard from 6 to 8 inches in length found in the sands of 



Scind and occasionally in the dry tracts of the Multan 



lvision. 



Sakharan Arjun in li Bombay Drugs/' 1879, under Lacerta 



scincus, mentions " R eg- i- mahi ° as a Persian name signifying 



a sand fish. He says : " This lizard which is brought from the 



Arabian deserts tn a dried state is w<a\ by the Hakeems as a 

 nervine tonic, stimulant and aphrodisiac. 



Samples of the dried lizards, known as M Reg mahi," were 

 recently procured by the Reporter on Economic Products 

 from the drug bazar in Delhi. They were submitted to Dr. 

 Annandale for identification, who at once pronounced them to 

 be Scincus mitranus, Anderson (S. arenarius, Murray), a species 

 peculiar to the plains of Sind. It is thus evident that the 

 medicinal lizard of Northern India is this species and not 

 Lacerta scincus, Linn. (Scincus officinalis, Gray) as given by the 

 above quoted writers. Besides the difference in the anatomical 

 markings Lacerta scincus belong> to gypt and the Algerian 

 Sahara, and, according to Boulenger, m not found east of the 

 borders of the Red Sea. The genus Scincus is restricted to 

 the sandy deserts of North Africa and South Western Asia from 

 S ihara to Sind. 



