8o A NATURAL HISTORY 



A Creature of a more exalted kind 



Was wanting yet ; and then was Man de/ign'd, 



Confcious of Thought, of more capacious Breajl.—— 



2. And partly as an Enfign of Royalty, fome Charafters where- 

 of Naturalifts have obferved in fome other petty Principalities ; 

 fuch as the Crown on the Dolphin, Diadem on the Bafilifk, the 

 Lion's flately Mane, which ferves as a Collar of Honour. 



But Man, being vefled with an univerfal Monarchy, walks 

 upon the Earth, like a Mafter in his own Houfe. 



XIII. The Ccecilia or Typhlinus, the blind Worm, as the 

 Greek word imports ; not that it wants Eyes, but becaufe they are 

 fo little, that he mufl be furnifli'd with good Optics that can dif- 

 cern them : And the Ear alfo is as remarkably dull, therefore call'd 

 by the Greeks xut^iW*; of a brown Colour, full of Spots, varie- 

 gated : The Belly is blackifh, the Neck fky-colour'd, garnifh'd 

 with certain black Spots : Head like a Lamprey, and is as free 

 from Poifon : Little Teeth, a forked Tongue, and may be handled 

 without hurt-f-. 



This Serpent feems to refemble thofe People which we call 

 Myops^ i. e. Moufe-cyed, or purblind, which happens when the 

 Eye is fo convex, that the Rays of Light unite, before they come 

 to the Retina, which makes the Eye alfo look fmall, whence the 

 Name 1^. 



The Ccecilian Serpent is about a Foot long, and diftinguilhable 

 from our common Serpents by the Form of its Body, which is al- 

 moft of the fame Craffitude, excepting two or three Inches at the 

 extremity of the Tail. Conradus Gefner tells us, his Wife ftruck 

 one of thefe Serpents on the Head, when 'twas pregnant, and it 

 immediately caft forth its young ||. 



XIV. The Generis, or Cencrina is a fpotted Serpent, and very 

 venemous ; denominated from Miliian, a fmall Grain call'd Mil- 

 let-feed ; to which Hiftorians compare the Spots wherewith this 



Serpent 



* ^"f' fwdafler^ tjuod hebetis fit auditus. 



•f Nicank r calls it uT'^t^avTov, quod nullam noxam inferat. fojiftonus, p. 19. 

 X From T^ip^oa excxco, Ka^oa, exfurdo. 

 II Gefier, p. 36. jEliaTf. 



