416 Proceedings of the 



Still, there is seldom smoke without some fire ; and the fact, 

 that in almost every country a belief exists in the venomous 

 nature of some one or other of the species of lizards, should 

 make us pause before refusing absolutely to admit the possi- 

 bility of there being lizards which are venomous. No later 

 than the month of January in the present year, we read in 

 the " Zoologist," p. 5921, of the occurrence of such a creature 

 in Gujerat; to which confirmatory evidence is borne by a 

 sceptical M.D., who ascertained that the poison fangs were in 

 that instance well developed. 



We must not, therefore, ignore the existence of such rep- 

 tiles. There is nothing, so far as we can see, in the structure 

 of their head incompatible with the existence of fangs. No 

 doubt, in serpents the bones of the head are not consolidated 

 together ; but this peculiarity belongs to the whole race, equal- 

 ly to those bearing fangs as to those without them ; and we can 

 perfectly conceive of the bones of the head of a lizard being 

 so altered and modified as to admit of the reception of a move- 

 able fang, although the necessary modifications would be very 

 considerable. I was, and still am, therefore, quite open to the 

 idea of a venomous lizard being possible; and when I first 

 received intimation that such a lizard was coming home, I was 

 delighted with the idea of proving the existence of a hitherto 

 undiscovered, though suspected animal, and did not receive 

 it, on its arrival, with more than reasonable distrust of its 

 venomous pretensions. 



The first specimen which I received was a small one, sent to 

 me by Mr Wyllie, a most intelligent and successful'observer, 

 who is now, alas ! no more, having succumbed to the bane- 

 ful influence of the climate. Subsequently several larger in- 

 dividuals were sent to me by the Rev. Mr Waddell, who is 

 still at his post at Old Calabar, in the vanguard of civilization 

 and Christian conversion. 



They had all suffered greatly from being sent home in 

 spirits; but when alive, I am told that it is of the greatest 

 beauty, its colours being of a dark brown, relieved by patches 

 of brilliant scarlet and dots of clear white. 



Mr Wyllie describes its cry as inexpressibly melancholy, 

 especially when heard at night, when it was chiefly, if not 



