52 SCINCUS OFFICINALIS. 



Spec. Char. Body silvery yellow, with transverse 

 blackish bands ; muzzle short and pointed ; tail com- 

 pressed at the tip ; margin of the toes serrated. 



Scincus; Rail Quadr. 271 ; AUlrov. Quadr. Ovip. f>58. Lacerta Scincus; Lin. 

 Si/st. Gmelin, i. 1077. Le Scinijue Ordinaire d' Egypt; Baud. iv. |>. 130. Le 

 Scinque ; Lacep. Quadr. Ovip. i. p. 373, t. 23. Officinal Seink ; S/utio, Zool. 

 iii. t. 79. Scincus Officinalis 5 Laur. Aniph. 55, u. 87 ; Geoff'r. Rept. Egypt. 

 supnl. t.2, f. 8. 



The Officinal Scink has been long celebrated as a medicine among 

 eastern nations, and once obtained a place in the British pharmaco- 

 poeias. It is a small animal, seldom exceeding six inches in length, 

 and is of a pale yellowish grey colour. The head is somewhat 

 flattened and covered above with a few plates ; the muzzle is 

 conical, not pointed, but rounded at the end. The body is elon- 

 gated and rather thick, entirely covered with round imbricated 

 shining scales, and marked with several broad transverse blackish 

 bands. The tail is of moderate length, thick at its base, pointed, 

 compressed at the tip, and covered with scales similar to those on 

 the body. The feet are slender, rather short, about of an equal 

 length, furnished each with five long thin separate toes, serrated on 

 their outer edge, terminating in a flat and pointed claw. — Fig. 1 

 exhibits the under side of the head ; 2, the upper side of the same. 



This species of Scink is found in Nubia, Abyssinia, and Egypt, 

 from whence it used formerly to be brought to Europe by way of 

 Venice and Marseilles. In its manners it is perfectly harmless ; 

 and so active in its motions, that it hides itself in the sand in an 

 instant. It is so numerous in some parts of the East that Mr. 

 Bruce says he saw several thousands of them at once in the great 

 court of the Temple of the Sun, at Balbec. The ground, the walls, 

 and scattered stones of these ruinous buildings were covered with 

 them. According to this author, in Arabia it is named El Addu, 

 and in Abyssinnia Ahab. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — The Scink is one of those 

 medicines which we owe to the superstition of former ages. The 

 virtues for which its flesh has been extolled are extremely nume- 



