In addition to this, the Salamander was esteemed a poisonous reptile, and has been generally held in terror; but this opinion has been refuted by numerous experiments. M. de Maupertuis, who minutely studied the nature of this Lizard, in order to discover what might be its pretended poison, demonstrated also experimentally that fire acted upon it in the same manner as upon all other animals. He remarked that it was scarcely upon the fire before it appeared to be covered with drops of a kind of milky fluid, which oozed through all the pores of the skin, and immediately became hard. It is needless to say that this fluid is not sufficiently abundant to extinguish even the smallest fire: it possesses some degree of acridity; for, when put upon the end of the tongue, it causes an unpleasant burning sensation*.

Shady woods, high mountains, or the banks of unfrequented rivulets, are the usual retreats of these animals; and they are not often seen except during wet weather. In the winter, they lie concealed in hollows about the roots of old trees, in subterraneous recesses, or the cavities of old walls, where several of them have been sometimes discovered, collected, and twisted together. They are often to be seen in the water, where they are able to live as well as on land. Their principal food is insects, snails, &c. Their pace is slow, and in manners they are very sluggish.

* La Cepede, ii, 138,

Their young are brought into the world alive, having been first hatched from eggs within the parent animal. The females are said to retire to the water to deposit them at their first exclusion from the body, these are furnished with fins on each side of the neck, which, on the animal's becoming perfect, drop off. The number of young produced by one Salamander is said sometimes to amount to thirty or forty.

THE WARTY LIZARD*.

This Lizard, which is very common in stagnant and muddy waters in this country, is six or seven inches in length, and entirely covered, except on the belly, with small warts. The under parts are of a bright yellow colour, and the upper mostly black brown, spotted with black. It resides altogether either in the water, or in very damp places, and its tail, being flattened perpendicularly, serves it as a rudder in swimming. It is usually seen crawling along the bottom, but it now and then rises, with a wriggling motion, to the surface.

At certain periods these animals, like many other reptiles, change their skins. Mr. Baker kept some of them in a large jar of water for many months, and found that they generally performed this operation at the end of every fortnight or three weeks.

A day or two before the change, the animal always

* SYNONYMS.-Lacerta palustris. Linn. - La Salamandre à queue plate. La Cepede. Ask in Scotland.

appeared more sluggish than usual, taking no no tice of the worms that were given to it, which at other times it greedily devoured. The skin in some parts of the body appeared loose, and its colour not so lively as before. It began the operation of casting the skin, by loosening that part about the jaws; it then pushed it backward gently and gradually, both above and below the head, till it was able to slip out first one leg and then the other. With these legs it proceeded to thrust the skin as far backwards as they could reach. This done, it was under the necessity of rubbing its body against the gravel, till it was more than half freed from the skin, which appeared doubled back, covering the hinder part of the body and the tail. The animal now bent back its head, taking the skin in its mouth, and, setting its feet upon it, for firmer hold, by degrees drew it entirely off, the hind-legs being dragged out in the same manner that the fore ones were before.

On examining the skin it was, in every instance, found to be turned with its inside outwards, but without any breach except at the jaws. These creatures do not, however, like some of the snakes, put off the coverings of the eyes along with the skin ; for two round holes always appear where the eyes have been.

This operation sometimes occupies near half an hour; and after it is finished the Lizard appears full of life and vigour. If the skin is not taken away very shortly after it is cast, the animal usually swallows it whole, as it does other food. Sometimes it

THE SERPENTS*.

THERE is much geometrical elegance in the sinuous motions of the Serpent tribe. Their backbone consists of moveable articulations, and runs through the whole length of their body. The breast and abdomen are surrounded with ribs. Some of the species can make their bodies stiff, and by this means are enabled to spring with great force and velocity on their prey.

The bodies of most of the tribes are covered with scales; and Linnæus has endeavoured to mark the species by the number of scaly plates on the abdomen and beneath the tail; the former he denomi. nates scuta, and the latter subcaudal squame: but every day's experience tends to prove that these are too uncertain and variable to be depended on.

The head is connected to the trunk without the intervention of a neck. The jaws are so formed that the animals are able to swallow bodies as thick and frequently even thicker than themselves. The tongue is slender and cleft.

The poisonous Serpents differ from the others in having long tubular fangs on each side of the head, calculated to convey the venom from the bag or receptacle at the base into the wound made by their