376 
DRUMMOND CASTLE. 
the mountain hold of the real Three-fingered Jack. 
Part of the road by which you ascend the Falls is 
a subterranean passage ; and caverns are entered by 
simple crevices which seem mere chinks in the irre- 
gular surface of the rock, all which natural peculi' 
arities account for the mysterious disappearances, 
which the mountain Hero was enabled to enact from 
his pursuers. In this neighbourhood are the Mount 
Vernon Copper-mines. The whole district is inte- 
resting to the naturalist. 
“ I should not wonder if the mysterious Crested 
Snake prove to be an Acontias ; a lizard without 
limbs, and with truncated tail, a species allied to A. 
meleagris of South Africa. The possession of what 
may be called a voice, and the un serpent-like form, 
strongly point this way.” 
Soon after this communication I had the pleasure 
myself of conversing with Dr. Palmer, who gave me 
a few particulars in addition to those contained in the 
above note. It was about the year 18^9 ; he saw 
the animal lying by the road-side near Drummond 
Castle ; decomposition had commenced, but the body 
was still entire and firm. Its thickness first struck 
him, and he then discovered its crest ; he described 
it to me as a sort of a pyramidal helmet, of a pale 
red colour, somewhat entire at the edge, but with a 
kind of lobe or knob at the summit. 
The suggestion of Mr. Hill, that the animal in 
question may be a Saurian, is felicitous, and removes 
much of the primd-facie improbability of the received 
account. For though none of the limbless Lizards 
known to us possess appendages to the head, but are 
