80 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



and is sometimes confounded with it under the general name of 

 A'ySovi. Among the domestic birds, I observed a few turkeys in the 

 convent of the Archangel ; geese and ducks are kept, but not in great 

 numbers. Fowls and pigeons are the principal domestic birds. 

 During my stay in the island, I used every possible means to procure 

 its birds, and succeeded in obtaining the greater part of them. Of 

 the rarer species of these my draftsman has taken drawings. I have 

 been also fortunate in procuring most of the Greek names : but it is 

 much to be regretted that Cyprus has hitherto wanted an ornitholo- 

 gist, who being stationary here might observe with more exactness 

 the migration of the different birds of the Levant. 



On observing the list of amphibia, we are surprised at finding the 

 Testudo Caretta, mentioned by Linnaeus as an inhabitant of the West 

 India islands, and no notice of the Testudo Aquatilis common through 

 Greece and Asia Minor. The genus Coluber and Lacerta are both 

 rich in the number of their species ; of these, fortunately for the 

 island, the Kou<p< is the only venomous species. The black snake, 

 whose colour is indeed suspicious, is perfectly harmless, and 1 was 

 informed by the physician of Larnica, that among the country 

 people it is even an object of affection ; that they suffer it to twist and 

 twine itself in the hair round the heads of their children, as a remedy 

 for the Tinea capitis.* I searched in vain for the Lacerta aurea, said 

 by Linnaeus to be the inhabitant of Cyprus ; but I am perfectly con- 

 vinced from a very attentive inquiry after the tribe, that it is not to be 

 found in the island ; an inaccuracy in the information of the collectors 

 must probably have led Linnaeus into this mistake. The Testudo 

 Caretta is not only an inhabitant of the Cyprian sea, but is the most 

 common species in the Mediterranean, and the Lacerta aurea is not 



* " The skin of a snake," says Sonnini, in his Travels in Egypt, " is worn in the tur- 

 ban, as a preservative against diseases of the head." p. 681. " The Tinea is very common 

 in parts of Syria; and as the natives are unwilling that the heads of girls should be shaved, 

 these suffer more from it than the boys." Russell, ii. 304. 



