FLYING DRAGON. 179 



on the upper parts is an elegant pale blue, or 

 blueish grey, the back and tail being marked by- 

 several transverse dusky undulations or bars, 

 while the wings are very elegantly spotted, more 

 especially towards the broadest part, with differ- 

 ently-shaped patches of black, deep-brown, and 

 white : the border of the wings is also white, and 

 the whole under surface of the animal is of a very 

 pale or whitish brown colour. 



This animal is no where so elegantly or faith- 

 fully figured as is the work of Seba ; the repre- 

 sentations in the works of other authors being in 

 every respect inferior, and even unworthy of quo- 

 tation. 



The Dragon is an inhabitant of many parts of 

 Asia and Africa, where, like most of the smaller 

 Lizards, it delights in wandering about trees, and 

 from .the peculiar mechanism of its lateral mem- 

 branes, is enabled to spring from bough to bough, 

 and to support itself in air for some short space, 

 in the manner of a flying squirrel, or even of a bat. 

 It feeds on insects, and is in every respect an ani- 

 mal of a harmless or inoffensive nature. 



VAR. ? 



Draco Prcepos. D. brachiis alee adnatis. Lin. Syst. Nat.p, 258, 

 Dragon with wings coalescing with the arms. 

 Draco volans Americanus. Seb. 1. 102./. 2. 



' This is considered by Linn^us in the twelfth 

 edition of the Systema Naturae as a distinct spe- 

 cies ; on the authority of Seba, Avho represents it a 



