58 
L A C E R T A. 
readily in walking. Each of tliefe feet have three minute 
toes, which are hardly vifible, but are all furnilhed with 
claws, as in molt other lizards. Linnaeus counted five, or 
at lealt four and fome appearance of a fifth, in the fpeci- 
rr.en he examined in the colieftion of Prince Adolphus ; 
but in feveral fpecimens from different countries, we could 
never find more than three, even with the alliftance of 
ftrong magnifiers. 
Several naturalifts have confidered the eft to be a fpe- 
cies of falarnander; and, as the falamander is believed by 
many to be venomous, the eft has been thought fo like- 
wile. It was even believed by the ancients to be a nox¬ 
ious animal; and the name feps, which they applied to 
this fpecies, to the chalcides, to very venomous ferpents, 
centipeds, and other dangerous reptiles, which is derived 
from annra, to corrupt, may be confidered as a general ex- 
prelfion for moll poifonous animals. From the obferva- 
tions of M. Sauvage, it would appear that the eft is not 
in the leaft venomous in the fouthern parts of France, and 
that its bite is never followed by any difagreeable confe- 
quences. That naturalill relates, that he has feen a feps 
fwallowed by a fowl, without producing the fmallelt in¬ 
convenience. He adds, that, the fowl having fwallowed 
a fmall living feps head foremoll, it made its efcape im¬ 
mediately after by the anus, as earth-worms often crawl 
from the guts of ducks : the fowl fnatched it up a fecond 
time, but with the lame bad fuccefs as at firll; however, 
on a third attempt, the feps, being bit through the mid¬ 
dle, remained in the ftomach of its enemy. From the fa¬ 
cility with which the feps, in this inllance, glided through 
the bowels of the fowl, M. Sauvage propofes it as a more 
effectual remedy, in certain diforders, than the ufual pre- 
icriptions of lead and mercury. M. Cetti fays likewife, 
that he never heard of any accident in Sardinia occafioned 
by the bite of an eft, and that it is univerfally confidered 
as a harmlefs animal in that ifland; only it is believed, 
that, when cattle or horfes happen to fwallow one among 
their grafs, they fwell, and are in danger of dying, unlefs 
a drench of oil, vinegar, and fulphur, be immediately ad- 
minillered. The eft feems to dread the effects of cold 
even more than the land-tortoife and molt other ovipa¬ 
rous quadrupeds, as it conceals itfelf earlier in the earth 
at the approach of winter. In Sardinia, it difappears at 
the beginning of October, and is only found in holes be¬ 
low ground after that period : it leaves its retreat in 
fpring, frequenting places covered with grafs ; and remains 
in thefe filiations all fummer, even when the grafs is quite 
burnt up. 
Gmelin adds the two following, a» varieties, but with 
an exprelfion of doubt, whether they fiiould be confidered 
as belonging to this fpecies. 
p. The Variegated Eft: marked with fcarlet; the head 
varied with black and white. 
y. The Marbted Eft: of a blackifh blue colour; having 
irregular white tlripes, intermixed with round white fpots. 
M. Thunberg, in the Memoirs of the Academy of 
Stockholm for 1787, under the name of Lacerta abdomina- 
lis, has given the defeription of a lizard that is found in 
Java and Amboyna, which has great refemblance to the 
feps; from which it only differs in the tail being propor¬ 
tionally much fhorter, and in the number of its toes. 
But, as Thunberg does not appear to have feen that ani¬ 
mal alive, and as he mentions that the extremity of the 
tail was naked and without feales, we may readily con¬ 
ceive that his fpecimen had loft part of its tail by fome 
accident. He likewife acknowdedges, that it was ex¬ 
tremely difficult to diftinguifh the toes of his fpecimen 
with the naked eye : hence it may have been fo far in¬ 
jured in drying as to give the appearance of five toes, 
■when in reality it may only have three, as in the feps; in 
which cafe it will fall to be confidered as belonging to 
this fpecies. 
52. Lacerta velox, the fwift lizard: tail verticillate, 
Isngilh s collar beneath fcaly 5 body above cinereous, va¬ 
ried with five longitudinal paler flreaks and brown dots; 
Tides fpotted with black and dotted with bluifh. This 
fmall lizard, deferihed by Pallas in the Supplement to his 
Ruffian Travels, feems only a variety of the agilis, or 
nimble lizard. It has the fame general figure of body and 
tail; fimilar feales under the throat, arranged in form of 
a collar, and fimilar rows of tubercles on the infide of its 
thighs. It is of a cinereous colour, longitudinally llreak- 
ed with paler; the back is marked with fmall reddifh 
brown dots, the Tides being marked with bluifh dots and 
fome black fpots. This animal was found among rocks 
and flones, in very warm defert places, in tire neighbour¬ 
hood of lake Inderfkoi: and its motions were as quick as 
an arrow. 
53. Lacerta cruenta, the bloody lizard : tail verticillate, 
cinereous above, blood-colour beneath, with a whitifh 
tip ; a tranfverfe fold under the throat. This is a fmall 
fpecies, and refembles the preceding, but confidered by 
Cepede as a variety of the algira. It has a fharper fnout 
than the velox. The body is brown above, with feven 
white flripes on the neck, four of which are continued as 
far as the tail; limbs fpotted with round white fpots f 
body white beneath ; a row of tubercles on the thighs. 
Native of the fouth of Siberia, inhabiting the country 
about the fait lakes. 
54. Lacerta arguta, the argute lizard : tail verticillate, 
fliort, thickifh at the bafe and filiform at the tip, with a 
collar of obfeurely marked feales, and a remarkable dou¬ 
ble creafe under the neck. Native of the fouth of Siberia: 
deferibed by Dr. Pallas : allied to the green lizard, but 
of a fhorter or more ventricofe form, with a fharper fnout, 
and lefs numerous as well as lefs diltindt fubfemoral tu¬ 
bercles: colour glaucous above, with feveral fubconfluent 
tranfverfe black bands, mod diftinfl at the bafe of the 
tail, where they are marked by ocellated fpots of the 
ground-colour of the back: under parts white. 
55. Lacerta Algira, the Algerine lizard : tail verticil¬ 
late, longifh ; two yellow lines on each fide the body. 
This lizard, which feldom exceeds the length of a finger, 
does not certainly derive its minutenefs from any defedt 
of heat in Mauritania in Barbary, its native countries, 
from which it was fent by M. Brander to Lihnasus: nei¬ 
ther can it be alleged, that it is fmall on account of the 
fcarcity of moiflure in thefe countries, fince there is a fpe¬ 
cimen of this fpecies in the French royal cabinet, pre- 
cifely fimilar fo the African individuals, which came from 
Louifiana, where moilture is equally abundant with heat. 
The body is brown above, and yellowifh underneath, the 
feales on the middle of the back being fharpifh and fome- 
what elevated into a kind of ridge; and on each fide of 
this ridge there are two longitudinal yellow lines, the un- 
dermoft of which divides the belly from the fides. The 
tail is rather longer than the body, diminilhing gradually 
to a point at the extremity, and is furrounded by regular 
rings of feales. In the relation of his Voyage into Bar¬ 
bary and the Levant, Mr. Shaw mentions a lizard, under 
the name of zermouneah , as very common among the 
hedges and on the high roads : he does not deferibe the 
fize of that animal, which is probably the fame with the 
fpecies of this article, only faying, that its ground-co¬ 
lour is bright brown, with three or four yellow ftreaks 
from one end to the other. 
56. Lacerta tiligugu, the Sardinian lizard : tail round, 
conical, middle-fized ; jaws equal; toes five, edged with 
a membrane, and furnilhed with claws. This fpecies has 
very confiderable refemblance to the feink ; but its legs 
are fhorter in proportion, and the upper jaw does not ex¬ 
ceed the length of the lower. It has been called mabouya 
by fome writers, and the fame name has been applied by 
others to the L. aurata. In that fpecies, the tail is longer 
than the body, while in this it is confiderably fhorter. 
The word mabouya fignifies, in the language of the Ame¬ 
rican favages, any object which infpires horror or difguft. 
The head of this fpecies feems, as in the feink, to origi- 
3 nate 
