62 LAC] 
Head of the juice, and with the fame views. Even in Eu¬ 
rope, this abfurd aphrodifiac has been employed to fup- 
ply a treacherous Strength to the exhaufted powers of na¬ 
ture ; though, if it has any effefl at all, it ferves rather 
to precipitate than to retard decay, by inciting to prema¬ 
ture enjoyment. HaiTelquifl: informs us, that fcinks are 
brought to Alexandria from Upper Egypt and Arabia, and 
are lent from thence to Venice and Marfe.illes, to be dis¬ 
tributed to different parts of Europe. 
The head feems fixed directly to the body, without any 
intervening neck; and it has large fmooth feales, like a 
iilh, difpofed like tiles, or imbricated, both on the upper 
and under parts of the body. The upper jaw is longer 
and broader than the under. The tail is thick, Short, and 
tapering, its tip being comprefled, or flattened laterally. 
The general colour of the upper parts of the body is red- 
difli, with tranfverfe brown bars on the back ; the under 
parts being vvhitifh. It is fubjeft, however, to variety ; 
for the fkin is fo thin and weak as to fuffer different 
changes of colour, in conformity with certain alterations 
in the internal organization of the animal. It is peculi¬ 
arly liable to fade after death ; and when dried and (lightly 
falted, in which (late it is brought to Europe, it appears 
of afilvery yellowish white. According to Linnteus, this 
fpecies is destitute of claws ; though all the dried fpeci- 
mens which Cepede examined teemed to have claws, and 
Ivl. Cetti confirms the fuppofition. HafTelquift fays, that 
a fmall naked fpace at the tip of each toe, (lightly convex 
above and concave below, Supplies the place of claws. 
The feink is found in almoft every part of Africa, par¬ 
ticularly in Egypt, Arabia, and Lybia, where it is faid to 
be of a larger Size than ordinary :- it is likewife found in 
India; and probably inhabits all the very warm countries 
of Europe and Afia. The choice of its habitation feems 
to depend, befides the warmth of the climate, on an 
abundant fupply of aromatic vegetables, on which it is 
laid to feed; and on this, probably, depends the flimu- 
lant power which is attributed to it as a medicine. Pliny 
informs us, that it was in his days employed as an anti¬ 
dote againft the wounds of poifoned arrows. The feink 
frequents the water, as well as the land ; and yet it lias 
been ridiculously called the land-crocodile by fome wri¬ 
ters : but furely it is extremely abfurd to apply the name 
of the largelt of the oviparous quadrupeds to this fmall 
lizard, which hardly ever exceeds feven or eight inches in 
length. Hence Profper Alpinus fuppofes, that the feink 
of the moderns ought not to be confidered as the fame 
animal with that which has been called the land-crocodile 
by the ancients, particularly by Herodotus, Paufan!as, and 
Diofcorides, and celebrated by thefe writers for its aphro- 
difiac and alexipharmic virtues. He fuS'pefls they meant 
another, and cor.fiderably larger, fpecies of lizard, which 
is found in dry fituations above Memphis. He gives a fi¬ 
gure of that lizard ; but neither his figure nor text give 
Sufficiently precife characters of the animal, to enable us 
to determine what fpecies it ought to be referred to : the 
form and fhortnefs of its tail does not admit of its being 
confidered either as a dragon, tupinambis, or guana. 
The feink has been more recently deferibed and figured 
by Mr. Bruce, under the name of el adda, and is faid to 
be extremely common in the province of Athara, in Abyf- 
finia : “ It burrows,” fays this author, “in the land ; and 
performs this operation fo quickly, that it is put of fight 
in an infiant, and appears rather to have found a hole 
than to have made one ; yet it comes out often in the heat 
of the day, and balks in the fun ; and, when frightened, 
will take refuge behind ftones, or in the withered ragged 
roots of the abfmthium, dried in the fun to nearly its own 
colour. Its length is rather more than fix inches-:, though 
its legs are long, it does not make life of them to Hand 
upright, but creeps with its belly almoft clofe to the 
ground. It runs, however, with very great celerity. It 
is very long from its lhouider to its nofe, being nearly 
two inches. Its body is round, having Scarcely any flat-- 
nefs in its belly. Its tail too is perfectly round, having 
It T A. 
noflatnefs in its lower part: it is exceedingly fharp-poinf'ecU 
and very eafily broken ; yet I have feen Several where the 
part broke off has been renewed, fo as fcarcely to be dif- 
cernible : it is the fame length between the point of the 
tail and the joint of the hinder leg, as. between the 
nofe and tile fhoulder of the fore leg. Its forehead, from 
the occiput, is flat; its Shape conical, not pointed, but 
rounded at the end, in the Shape of Some Shovels or Spades. 
The head is darker than the body ; the occiput darker 
fcill : its face is covered with fine black lines, which crofs 
one another at right angles like a net: its eyes are fmall, 
defended with a number of Strong black hairs or eye¬ 
lashes : its upper jaw is longer, and projects confiderably 
over the under: both jaws have a number of Short, 
fine, but very feeble, teeth; and, when holding it in my 
hand, though it Struggled violently to get looS'e, it never 
attempted to make ufe of its teeth ; indeed it feems to 
turn its neck with great difficulty. Its ears are large, 
open, and nearly round. Its body is alight yellow, bor¬ 
dering on Straw-colour, eroded with eight bands of black, 
almolt equally aidant, except the two next the tail: all 
thefe decreafe both in breadth and length from the middle 
towards each extremity of the animal. The feales are 
largeft along the back ; they are very dole, though the 
divisions are Sufficiently apparent: their Surface is very po¬ 
lished, and Seems as if varnished over: the legs, from the 
Shoulder to the middle toe, are nearly an inch and three 
quarters long; the feet are compofed of five toes, the ex¬ 
tremity of each is armed with a brown claw of no great 
Strength, whofe end is tipped with black.” Mr/ Bruce 
adds, that the el adda is one of the few lizards which the 
Arabs in all-times havebelieved to be free from poifonous 
qualities, and yet to have all the medical virtues they have 
fo abundantly lavished upon the more noxious fpecies; 
their character, however, as a medicine, feems to be great¬ 
ly on the decline in their native regions ; and, though the 
books preferibing them are in every body’s hands, yet the 
medicine is not now made ufe of in the places where the 
books were written ; which affords a pretty Strong proof 
that it was never very efficacious. 
Mr. Bruce obferves that lizards in general are peculiarly 
numerous in the eaftern regions. The defert parts of Sy¬ 
ria, bordering on Arabia Deferta, abound with them be¬ 
yond a poflibility of counting them. “lam pofitive,’* 
Says Mr. Bruce, “that I can fay, without exaggeration, 
that the number I law one day, in the great court of the 
temple of the Sun at Baibec, amounted to many thou- 
fands : the ground, the walls, and Hones, of the ruined 
buildings, were covered with them; and the various co¬ 
lours of which they confided made a very extraordinary 
appearance, glittering under the fun, in which they lay 
Sleeping and balking.” 
| 3 . The Jlarry long-tailed feink. This is marked by Dr. 
Gmelin as a variety ; yet it differs fo much by its great 
length of tail, that we might readily agree with Dr. Shaw 
in considering it as a very diftindt fpecies. Its tail is 
twice as long as the body, whereas in the common offici¬ 
nal feink the tail is but half the length of the body. See 
Plate VI. fig. it, iz. The long-tailed feink,according to 
Seba, is a native of America, frequenting the fea-coafts, 
and feeding on fmall crabs and fpiders. Colour greeniSh- 
yellow, darker or lighter in different individuals. 
8 a. Lacerta ocellata/the ocellate lizard : tail round and 
Short; body greenifh-grey above, white beneath ; marked 
above with roundifli ocellated brown Spots with white rec¬ 
tangular disks. A beautiful fpecies, in length about a 
fpan : body depreffed : feet Short, pentadafiyle : no femo¬ 
ral warts. It is a native of Egypt, about'the neighbour¬ 
hood of houfes, &c. obferved by Forfkal. 
8i. Lacerta aurata, the golden lizard: tail round, 
longifii ; feales round and fmooth; colour golden when 
alive, Sides brownish; jaws equal. This Species much re - 
fembles the common or officinal feink, but is confiderably 
larger,-meafuring fifteen inches or more in length, from 
the nofe-to the end of the tail, which latter is longer in 
proportion 
