THE 



BASILISK. 



Generic Character. 

 Body four-footed, tailed, naked. 



Specific Character, &c. 



LONG-TAILED LIZARD, with radiated dor- 

 fal and caudal fin, and pointed occipital 

 creft. 



THE BASILISK. 



The BafiUlk of the ancients, fuppofed to be the 

 moft malignant of all poifonous animals, and of which 

 the very afpe£t was faid to be fatal, is a fabulous ex- 

 igence, to be found 1 only in the reprefentations of 

 painters and poets. Without citing other defcriptions, 

 it may be fufficient to quote that of Lucan, who, with 

 true poetic licence, reprefents the Bafililk exerting his 

 terrific glance in the burning deferts of Africa, and 

 obliging the reft of the poifonous tribe to preferve an 

 humble diftance. 



" Sibilaque effundens cun&as terrentia peftes, 

 Ante venena nocens, late fibi fubmovet omne 

 Vulgus, et in vacua regnat Bafilifcus arena." 



But 



