Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 8, ELE-FOR

ER FETOLOGY.
ing from one branch of a tree to another in fearch of
inl'efts, which are its proper food.
63. Lacerta Tetradactyla, Four-toed Gecko.
Specif. Char.—Colour yellow, varied with green ; tail
flat; feet tetradaftylous.
This fpecies is about 12 inches long, and is nearly
allied to the preceding fpecies, except that it wants the
fimbriated margin, and the number of the toes on the
fore feet being only four.
It is alfo a native of Madagafcar, and is not held in
lefs abhorrence by the inhabitants than the former. It
lives in the woods, appearing in the rainy feafon during
the night.
64. Lacerta Caudiverbera, Scollop-tailed Gecko.
Specif. Char.—Tail flat, pinnatifid j feet palmated.
✓
This fpecies, which is a very Angular one, is about
16 inches long, and of this the tail meafures above one-
half. The head is large and flat, the body thick, and
the limbs flrort. The fore feet are like the reft of the
fpecies, but the hind feet are ftrongly palmated. The
tail tapers gradually to the tip, but through its whole
length is edged with a broad deep fcolloped fin : this
gradually widens towards the tip, and is confiderably
broader than on the fides. The back is marked with
numerous diftant red tubercles, each of which is fur-
rounded by a circle of fmall white fcales. The webs
of the hind feet, and the finny part of the tail, are of a
bright red.
This fpecies is faid to be a native of Arabia •, but be¬
ing a very rare animal, its natural hiftory is not well
known.
65. Lacerta Schneideriana, Schneiderian Gecko.
Specif. Char.—Colour gray \ tail convex above and flat
below ; a black band on each fide of the head j la¬
mellae of the feet lunulated and divided.
The colour of this fpecies is cinereous, with a brown
band on each fide of the head ; on each fide of the body
there is a future or wrinkling of the {kin ; the tail is
edged with a row of lharper and longer fcales than on
the other parts.
66. Lacerta Sparmanniana, Spartnannian Gecko.
Specif. Char.—Body papxllated above j tail lanceola-
ted } fore feet tetrada<ftylous.
This is a fmall fpecies, meafuring not more than three
inches in total length. The colour on the upper part
of the body is variegated with darker and lighter fliades j
on the under part it is whitifli.
It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, where it
is regarded as a poifonous animal. It is faid that the
fluid fecreted from its pores, as well as the faliva, pro¬
duces inflammatory tumors, and fometimes even gan¬
grenes.
67. Lacerta Sputator, Spitting Gecko.
Specif Char.—Colour gray, marked above with brown
tranfverfe bands} tail round, furnifhed with fcuta
beneath.
Chap. I,
The total length of this fpecies does not exceed four Lizards,
inches, and fometimes it is fmaller. The fcales cn the
whole animal are fmooth and gloffy.
It is a native of the ifland of Euftatia, where it is
found about houfes, walls, &c. When it is alarmed,
it is faid to eje£t from its mouth a black acrid fluid,
which occafions flight inflammation of the Ikin, and is
ufually removed by rubbing the part with camphorated
fpirit of wine,
Se&. VII. Scinks.
The animals of this divifion are covered with round-*
ed fiflr-like fcales.
68. Lacerta Scincus, Officinal Scink.
Specif Char.—Colour a yellowifli brown, with tranf¬
verfe brown bands on the upper part of the body j
tail ihort, comprefied at the tip j upper jaw longeft.
The fcink is from fix to feven inches long, and
fometimes more. The head is rather fmall, the body
thick and round, and the tail in general fhorter than
the body. The furface of the body has a gloffy ap¬
pearance.
This fpecies is a native of many of the eaftern coun¬
tries. It is very common in Libya, Syria, Egypt, and
Arabia, frequenting dry and fandy foils. It was once
in confiderable eftimation as a medicine, in leprous and
fimilar difeafes.
This animal is defcribed under the name of el adda,
by Mr Bruce, and is reprefented as very common in
the province of Atbara in Abyflinia. “ It burrows,
fays he, in the fand, and performs this operation fo
quickly, that it is out of fight in an inftant, and ap¬
pears rather to have found a hole than to have made
one 5 yet it comes Out often in the heat of the day and
balks itfelf in the fun, and, if not very much frighten¬
ed, will take refuge behind ftones, or in the withered
ragged roots of the abfinthium, 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 ufe of them
to ftand upright, but creeps with its belly almoft clofe
to the ground. It runs, however, with very great ce¬
lerity. It is very long from its fhoulder to its nofe,
being nearly turo inches : its body is round, having
fcarce any flatnefs in its belly 5 its tail, too, is perfectly
round, having no flatnefs in its lower part ; it is ex¬
ceedingly (harp-pointed, and very eafily broken. Yet I
have feen feveral, where the part broken off has been
renewed, fo as fcarcely to be difcernible. It is the fame
length between the point of the tail and the joint of the
hinder leg, as was between the nofe and the fhoulder of
the fore leg ; its forehead from the occiput is flat; its
fhape conical, not pointed, but rounded at the end, in
fliape of fome fhovels or fpades : the head is darker than
the body, the occiput darker ftill. Its face is covered
with fine black lines, which crofs one another at right
angles like a net j its eyes are fmall, defended with a
number of ftrong black hairs, or eyelaflies. Its upper
jaw is longer, and projects confiderably over the un¬
der. Both its jaws have a number of fhort, fine, but
very feeble teeth •, and when holding it in my hand,
though it ftruggled violently to get loofe, it never at¬
tempted to make ufe of its teeth : indeed it feems to
turn
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