DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5833#0287
258
SCENES IN INDIA.
was passing under its body., I heard a sharp, modulated
sound, so unusual that it caused me to start, and on
turning suddenly round, I saw a large green lizard,
nearly a foot long, which crawled into the grass, and
I lost all further sight of it. I made some inquiries
about the existence of such an animal on this island,
for it struck me that it must have been a species of the
Gecko, so well known in Egypt as a poisonous lizard ;
but I could not obtain any satisfactory information
upon the subject, for no one seemed to be conscious of
the existence of such an animal. I nevertheless felt
satisfied in my own mind that I had seen one of those
venemous reptiles. The Egyptian Gecko is a creature
of so singular a character that a description from the
work of an eminent naturalist will not, I apjprehend,
be unwelcome to the reader.
" Of all the oviparous quadrupeds," says the Count
de la Cepede, " this is the first which contains a
deadly poison. Nature, in this instance, appears to
act against herself. In a lizard, whose species is but
too prolific, she exalts a corrosive liquor to such a de-
gree as to carry corruption and dissolution among all
animals into which this active humour may penetrate :
one might say, she prepares in the Gecko only death
and annihilation. This deadly lizard, which deserves
all our attention on account of its dangerous proper-
ties, has some resemblance to the cameleon; its head,
almost triangular, is large in comparison with its
body; the eyes are very large; the tongue flat, co-
vered with small scales, and the end is rounded. The
teeth are sharp, and so strong, that, according to Bon-
tius, they are able to make impressions on the hardest
SCENES IN INDIA.
was passing under its body., I heard a sharp, modulated
sound, so unusual that it caused me to start, and on
turning suddenly round, I saw a large green lizard,
nearly a foot long, which crawled into the grass, and
I lost all further sight of it. I made some inquiries
about the existence of such an animal on this island,
for it struck me that it must have been a species of the
Gecko, so well known in Egypt as a poisonous lizard ;
but I could not obtain any satisfactory information
upon the subject, for no one seemed to be conscious of
the existence of such an animal. I nevertheless felt
satisfied in my own mind that I had seen one of those
venemous reptiles. The Egyptian Gecko is a creature
of so singular a character that a description from the
work of an eminent naturalist will not, I apjprehend,
be unwelcome to the reader.
" Of all the oviparous quadrupeds," says the Count
de la Cepede, " this is the first which contains a
deadly poison. Nature, in this instance, appears to
act against herself. In a lizard, whose species is but
too prolific, she exalts a corrosive liquor to such a de-
gree as to carry corruption and dissolution among all
animals into which this active humour may penetrate :
one might say, she prepares in the Gecko only death
and annihilation. This deadly lizard, which deserves
all our attention on account of its dangerous proper-
ties, has some resemblance to the cameleon; its head,
almost triangular, is large in comparison with its
body; the eyes are very large; the tongue flat, co-
vered with small scales, and the end is rounded. The
teeth are sharp, and so strong, that, according to Bon-
tius, they are able to make impressions on the hardest