FLYING DRAGON. 39 
the small, weak, and perfectly innocent animal 
which we shall presently describe. Poets and ro- 
mancers could readily expand their ideas, and add 
forty feet to the length of a lizard : they extended 
his lateral membranes to mighty wings, and gave 
him a head and tail of their own, fraught with 
every thing that was terrible and malignant. 
Dr. Shaw has given so good a description of the 
form of this animal, that we shall beg leave to in- 
troduce it in his own words: “ The total length 
of this highly curious creature is commonly about 
nine or ten inches, or at most a foot ; the tail being 
extremely long in proportion to the body, which 
does not measure more than about four inches in 
length. The head is of a very singular form, being 
furnished beneath with a very large triple pouch or 
process, one part of which descends beneath the 
throat, while the two remaining parts project on 
each side; all are sharp-pointed, and seem analo- 
gous in some degree to the gular crests of the guana 
and other lizards, but are still more conspicuous in 
proportion to the size of the animal. The head is 
of moderate size ; the mouth rather wide ; the 
tongue large, and thick at the base ; the teeth small 
and numerous ; the neck rather small ; the body 
and limbs somewhat slender, and universally co- 
vered with small acuminated and closely-set scales, 
which incline more to a minutely aculeated ap- 
pearance on the tail. The colour of the dragon on 
the upper parts is an elegant pale blue, or blueish 
gray, the back and tail being marked by several 
