getable food and certain species of insects. The guanas deposit their eggs (which have no testaceous covering, and are much valued for food) in the earth where they may be warmed by the beams of the sun, and leave them to be matured solely by its influence. The natives of the Bahamas train dogs to the pursuit of these animals, and a well disciplined dog will take them alive, in which case they are carried for sale to the markets of Carolina in the holds of vessels; those which are destroyed or lacerated by the dogs, are salted and barrelled, and kept for the home consumption. Their flesh is reported to be easily digestible, delicate, and well flavoured. They will keep under water for nearly an hour; when they swim, their feet are kept close to their bodies, and they appear to produce and regulate their motions merely by their tails. Whatever they eat they swallow whole. They have been kept without food a very considerable time. Their colour is much affected by the state of the weather, or the dampness or dryness of their habitation. They may be easily tamed if taken young.

L. basiliscus, or the basilisk, is particularly distinguished by a broad wing-like process, elevated along the whole length of its back, somewhat similar to the fins of fishes, and which is capable, at the pleasure of the animal, of being extended or contracted. It lives almost solely in trees, feeding upon insects, and though somewhat terrific in appearance, is as harmless as any of the lizard tribe. It is found most frequently in South America, generally about a foot and a half long, swims with great ease, and moving among the branches of the trees with extreme agility, sometimes apparently with a short flight, which is aided by the remarkable process above mentioned, on its back. The basilisk of antiquity, whose bite was supposed to be more speedily mortal than that of any other creature, and whose look even carried destruction with it, is to be ranked with the fabulous monsters, which in the prevailing ignorance of nature that attended those times, were amply supplied by a poetic imagination. See Amphibia, Plate I, fig. 3. L. monitor, or the black lizard, measures frequently four and sometimes five feet, being one of the largest as well as the most elegant of the tribe. It is found principally in woody and moist situations in South America, and is reported to give indications of attachment and gratitude to those by whom it has been fed, and familiarised to be as VOL. IV.

mild in its manners and temper as it is ele gant in its form.

L. agilis, or the green lizard, is abundant in all the warmer latitudes of Europe, sometimes attaining the length of more than two feet, but in general not exceeding one. Its colouring is more beautiful than that of any of its tribe in this quarter of the world. About the southern walls of gardens, it is particularly seen pursuing insects with great alertness and dexterity, and both in attack and escape its agility is truly admirable. It may to a certain degree be tamed and familiarised, and in this state is by many considered not only as a perfectly harmless, but as a favourite animal.

L. chamæleon, the chameleon, is gene-、 rally of the length of ten inches without the tail, which is equally long. Its food consists of insects, which it procures by protruding the tip of its tubular and lengthened tongue with inconceivable celerity, and never failing to retract with it the prey at which it was darted. In India and Africa, and various other parts of the world, these animals are found in great abundance. They are perfectly inoffensive, and can endure a long abstinence, from which latter circumstance the idea of their living upon air alone, may not unnaturally have been de rived. They occasionally retain the air in their lungs for a very considerable time, and thus assume an appearance of fullness and fleshiness which is in perfect contrast to that which they will suddenly exhibit, in consequence of the total expulsion of the 'air from the lungs, during which they are collapsed and seemingly emaciated. A change of colour is sometimes observed in many of the lizard tribe, but particularly so in the chameleon; but the long prevailing idea of the adaptation of its colour to that of any substance with which it is surrounded is totally groundless. Its varieties in this respect appears to extend (in consequence principally, of varied health or temperature) from its natural green-grey into very pale yellow, with irregular patches of red. When exposed to the sun, considerable changes in the shading and patching of its colours are observable; and when, after being wrapped in white linen by some members of the French Academy-it reappeared within two or three minutes, it partook somewhat, but very far from completely of the colour of it. On being folded up in substances of various other different colours, it borrowed neither of them, and exhibited no interesting change. The

E

movements of the chameleon are extremely slow, and in passing from branch to branch its tail is coiled for security round one till its feet have been extended to the other.

L. salamandra, or the salamander, is of a deep brilliant black colour, varied with irregular patches of bright yellow. It is found in various parts of France, Germany, and Italy, abounding particularly in moist and woody situations, and making its' appearance chiefly during rain. In winter it secludes itself in clefts, or hollow trees. It is about seven inches long, lives principally upon insects and snails, can subsist by water as well as land, is slow in its movements, and lethargic in its habits. The idea of its being capable of enduring fire without injury, can be accounted for, merely from its possessing a power of exuding in any state of irritation a white and glutinous substance,

which must of course tend to render the

application of fire less immediately destructive to it than to some other animals, and considering what trifling causes have led, in innumerable cases to important inferences, this fact may probably have given rise to the notion of the salamander being insusceptible of destruction, and even of injury in the midst of flames. The idea of its poisoning any large animal by its bite is equally exploded. The common lizard, however, is stated to have been poisoned in consequence of the bite of the salamander, from some particular fluid contained in the skin of the latter. The salamander produces its young living, hatched from internal eggs, and frequently upwards of thirty in number.

L. aquatica, or the common water newt, is generally about three inches and a half in length, and is found in this country in almost all its stagnant waters. Newts frequently cast their skins with the most complete wholeness, even to the exquisitely delicate and filmy coverings of the eye. In the power of reproduction they resemble the cancer genus. The loss of a leg is reported by Dr. Blumenbach to be easily repaired by renovation, and it is added that the same circumstance occurs with respect to the eyes. The tenaciousness of life exhibited by these animals is remarkable. They have often been found inclosed in large masses of ice, in which they must have been confined for days, weeks, or, even in some instances, for months; and, on being freed from their prison, have soon displayed all the alertness and vigour of perfect health.

LACHENALIA, in botany, a genus of the Hexandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Coronaria. Asphodeli, Jussien. Essential character: corolla sixparted; the three outer petals difform; capsule three-winged; cells many-seeded; seeds globular, affixed to the receptacle. There are twelve species, all bulbous rooted plants, and natives of the Cape of Good Hope.

LACHES, in law, signifies slackness or negligence; as when we say, "there is a laches of entry," it means the same as to say, there is lack or neglect of entry.

LACHNÆA, in botany, a genus of the Octandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Vepreculæ. Thymelææ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx none; corolla four-cleft, with an unequal border; species, viz. L. eriocephala, woolly-headed seed one, like a berry. There are two headed lachnæa; these are both shrubs, and lachnæa; and L. conglomerata, clusternatives of the Cape of Good Hope..

tion given to several parts of the eye, from LACHRYMAL, in anatomy, an appellatheir serving to secrete the tears. The lachrymal gland is situated in the orbit ducts under the upper eye-lid: these are above the smaller angle, and its excretory much more easily demonstrated in the eye of an ox than in a human one.

LACIS, in botany, a genus of the Polyandria Digynia class and order. Essential character: calyx none; corolla none; filaments winged on both sides below; receptacle girt, with twelve spines; capsule ovate, eight-streaked, one-celled, two-valved, many-seeded. There is but one species, viz. L. fluviatilis; this plant is called by the natives mourerou; it is a native of Guiana, and has been found only on the rocks of the great cascade of the river Sinemari; it is always under water, except the flowering branches; it is attached to the rocks by packets of small fibres.

LACISTEMA, in botany, a genus of the Monandria Digynia class and order. Essential character: calyx scale of the ament; corolla four-parted; filaments bifid; berry pedicelled, one-seeded. There is but one species, viz. L. myricoides, found in Surinam

and Jamaica.

LACTATES, combinations of earths and alkalies, &c. with the LACTIC acid, which

see.

LACTEAL vessels, in anatomy, fine subtle canals situated in the intestines and me