LIZARD. 



are great t'evourers of tlie race of fwine. In Carolina they 

 lie torpid during the winter in caverns and hollows in the 

 banks of the rivers, and at their coming out in the ipring 

 make a hideous bellowing noife. According to Catefby, in 

 his hillory of Carolina, fome parts of alligators are reckoned 

 very delicious food by the Indians. They depofit their 

 eggs at two or three different periods, and more than twenty 

 ot them at each laying. They have been obferved to raife 

 a Imall hillock near the banks of the river, and after hollow- 

 ing it out in the middle, to collect a quantity of leaves and 

 other vegetable mattei-s, in whicli they depofit their eggs. 

 Both the alligator and crocodile are fuppofed to be long 

 lived animals. It has been thought the crocodile, or fome 

 of the fpecies, was the leviathan mentioned in the book of 

 Job, chiefly, perhaps, becaufe thedefcription of this monfter 

 does not tulHcientij- correfpond with the general ftriiclure 

 of the whale ; neverthelefs, the leviathan there mentioned 

 uill correfpond full as little with any of the fpecies of the 

 crocodile now known as with the whale, antl it is more pro- 

 bable, that, hke the mammoth, the leviathan of the fcrip- 

 tures is not now to be found on the face of the earth. 



Section B. — The. animals of this feftion have the body 

 covered with carinate fcales. 



Species. 



Caudiverbera, or flat-tailed lizard, is found in Peru'and 

 Chili, and is about twelve or fifteen inches long. The tail 

 1$ depreffed, flat, wing-cleft j feet palmate. The body is 

 inclining to blue ; fcales very minute ; head convex, oblong ; 

 eyes very large, yellow ; noftrils wide, with a fiefny edge ; 

 mouth large, teeth minute, hooked in a double feries ; 

 tongue thick, broad, red ; chin with a dilatable pouch ; 

 creil running down the back from the front to the tip of the 

 tail, undulate at the edge ; feel five-toed, with a cartilage 

 ijiltead of nails. 



Dr.ic.ena, or large long-tailed lizard, with a fmooth 

 body, and tail denticulated along the upper part. The 

 body is of a deep chefnut-colour ; the fcales are very minute ; 

 the legs teflellate, with fafFron and white. It inhabits 

 America, and has been named the large American cordylus, 

 and has fometimes been confounded with the caudiverbera 

 jull noticed. 



It is a native of feveral parts of South America, and of 

 £ome of the I-ndian ifiands, and is regarded, in fome countries 

 in which it is found, as a great delicacy. The head is 

 fmall, and rather elegantly formed, the fnoni taperintf in 

 fuch a manner aj to bear a relemblance to that of an Italian 

 grey-hound ; the teeth are fmall and numerous, and the 

 tongue forked ; the proportions <rf the neck and limbs are 

 elegant, thovigh ftrong ; and the body is moderately thick; 

 the tail is of great length. The whole anini;d is fmooth, 

 or deftitute of prominences on the (kin, which is coVered 

 witli fmall, ovate, and, in fome parts, (lightly fubquadrate 

 fcales, largell on the outfide of the limbs, the back, and 

 tJie abdomen ; along the upper edge of the tail runs a con. 

 tinued feries of fnort triangular denticulations ; the feet 

 are moderately ftrong,. and. the toes are armed with {harp 

 crooked claws. 



Dr. ShavA mentions a variety, of which there was a 

 fpecimen in the Leverian Mufjeum, which differs in being 

 of a pale bi-own colour, variegated on the body and tail by 

 feveral deep-brown tranfveri'e bands, among which, as alfo 

 on the abdomen and limbs, are interfperfed many fmaller 

 variegations, and fpots of a llmilar colour. 



BlMACULATA, or Pennfylvanian hzard, has a tail carinate, 

 ;*)Oihed, twice, as long as the body, all the toes, gf which.. 



there are five on each foot, are lobate. The colour of if*' 

 body is greenilh-blue, moflly fpotted with black ; thp 

 (liouiders \vith two large fpots. It is found in the woods of 

 St. Euftatius and Pennfylvania, and lives in holes, gutters, 

 and hollow trees; makes a hiffing noife, and dcpofits it,8- 

 eggs in the earth. 



Monitor, or monitor lizard, is one of the largcft of the 

 hzard tribe; it meafures fometimes from four to five feet. 

 Its colour is black ; tail very long, coraprelTed, carinateA; 

 body marked with tranfvcrfe rows of v.hite, ocellated. 



This is a very beautiful animal. The head is fmall ; the 

 fnout gradually tapers ; the limbs are (lender ; and the tail, 

 which is laterally comprelfed, gradua'ly decreafes towards 

 the extremity. As a whole, the form is (lender and elegant ; 

 though the colours are fimple, they are fo difpofed as to pro- 

 duce an agreeable effeft. It is a native of South America, ^ 

 inhabiting woody and mar(hy places. If credit may be 

 given to reports of authors, who pretend to have (tudied its 

 habits and characters with much accuracy, its difpofition 

 is as gentle as its appearance is beautiful. It has even <rained 

 the title of monitor falvaguarda, &c. from its pretended at- 

 tachir.ent to the human race : it has been co:>tidently af-- 

 firmed, that it warns mankind of the approach of the alli- 

 gator by a lotid and (hrill whiftle. 



_ There is a variety of this animal mentioned by V^Tiite, in 

 his " Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales ;" but in 

 Gmelin's edition of the " Syltema Naturs,'' it is given as 

 ^a diftinfi fpecies, under the name of 



Varia, or variegated lizard. Though there is a o-reaf 

 refemblance between this and the monitor ; yet there are 

 certain points of difference in its colour, and variegations 

 that will juftify its introdudtion as a feparate fpecies. The 

 tail is long, carinate ; body blackHh, tranfverfely variegated ■ 

 with yellow fpots and marks. 



It is found in New Holland. The markings on the body, 

 inftead of the genera! ocellated pattern of the preceding,., 

 confift of rounded, or (lightly fubangukr fpots and variega- 

 tions : the limbs, as in the monitor lieard, .are marked w'ith > 

 numerous hands and fpots, and the tail is banded ; thedaws 

 are very large and ftrong. 



BicAKiNATA, orbicarinated lizard, has a tail of moderate 

 length ; four rows of ftrong carinated fcales on the back. 

 The head is fmall ; the mouth very wide in proportion, and 

 the fnout fome what (harp. It is of a reddifh-brown colour, 

 tinged in fome parts with various (hades of green. 



In its general habit, this fpecies bears a refemblance to e. 

 fmall crocodile, on account of the hard tuberculated and ■ 

 cannated fcales, on the upper parts of the body, two rov«s 

 of v/hich are more prominent than the reft, and extend from 

 the upper part of the back to the tail^ where they coalefce - 

 and form a ferrated creft to the extremity. It is a native 

 of South America, where it is fometimes uled a» food, and 

 its eggs are highly efteemt-d. It^ haunts are woody and 

 marftiy regions : it is fond of water ; and one kept fome -time 

 by M. de la Borde, often continued in it for feveral- hours 

 together, hiding; itfelf when difturbed or- affrighted, .but it 

 feemed delighted in coming out and baflung in the. direift 

 and ftrong rays of the fun» 



A lizard, known under the name of igr.ariica, a native of 

 Brazil, is regarded as a variety of tfie fpecies julldefcribed, 

 differing only in colour, which is darker, and the claws, 

 which are Ihorter, but, like it, there is fame refemblance 

 between it and the crocodile : it readily climbs trees. 



CoRDYi,us, or Cordyle lizard, has a fmooth body, diort 

 tail that is verticillated with denticulated fcales. This fpecies 

 is fometimes blue, and fometimes of a livid-brown, and the 



total- 



