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Show lW 0 K I. ~ • I H I S T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. of the harmlefs kind, there is none worth notice but the Ta?a~a~iJt ( k) which is remarkable for its {hapc and fome other pecuhauues: It i; perfeCtly l'ound, cartilaginous, and feels vety cold ;o the touch . tl e diameter of its body is fix inches. Its head is very hard,_ and fpot· 1 ted with various colours. It I· S r. 1 d 11 "(b that 1t docs not .10 azy an . ugg1 '. • move even although it is fhaken. When 1ts head IS ftruck, or ~~s eyes prefied, it darts out from them, to about t~o or three yace: dl - tance a few drops of blood; but is in every thmg clfe an moffenfivc, anim~l and feems to take plcafure in being handled. It would feem as if, being of fo cold a conll:itution, ir received fome .comfort from the heat of the hand. . Among the poifonous lizards, the wor:fl: feems to be that ~ne :Wluch,, from its being uncommon, got t~e name of Tetzauhqut w1th t!1e Mexicans. It is very fmall, of a grey colour, which is of a yellow1Gl hue upon the body, and blueiG1 upon the tail: There are fome others reckoned venomous, and known by the Spamards by the name of Salamanquefas, or that of Scorpz'om (for this name is applied. to many reptiles by the vulgar) : but I a.m certain, fi·om many obfer~at10ns, that thofe lizards are either entirely void of poifon, or at leaft, If they have any, it is not fo aCtive as is generally imagim::u. \Ve may make the fame remark with refpeCl: to toad~, as we have never feen or heard of any bad effeCts occafioned by their venom, although in many warm and humid places the earth is entirely covered with them. In thofe places there are fome toads of eight inches diameter. . In the lake of Chalco there are three very numerous fpec1es of frogs, of three vety different fizes and colours, and very common at the tables in the capital. Thofe of Huaxteca are excellent, and will femetimes weigh a Spanifh pound: but I never faw ot heard in that country the tree frogs, which are fo common in Italy and other parts of Europe. The ferpents are of much greater variety than the reptiles already mentioned, there being many of different fizes and c:olours, fome poi.fonous and others innocent. The moil: confiderable in point of fize feems to have been one called Canauhcoatl by the Mexicans. It was about three Parifian perches (k) Sec this lizard in our plnte. . long, • HI S T 0 R Y 0 F M E' X I C 0. 59 long, and of the thicknefs of a middle fized man. One of the 7'/i/- ~ coas, or black ferpents, which Hernandez faw in the mountains of Tepoztlan, was not quite fo large; which, although it was not equal in thicknefs, yet was ten Spanilh cubits, or more than fixtecn Parifian feet long. Such monftrous ferpents are feldom to be found nowadays, unlefs in fome folitary wood, at a di:fl:ance from the capital. The moll: remarkable of the poifonous ferpents are the Abueyafili, the Cuicui!coat!, the Teixmi7zani, the Cencoatl, and the 'l'eotlacozauhqui. The 'l'eotlacozauhqui, of which there are feveral fpecies, is the fclmous rattle-fnake. Its colour and fize ar~ various, but it is commonly three or four feet long. The rattle may be confidered as an appendix to the vertebrre, and confifis of rings of a horny fub:fl:ance, moveable, ~nd conneCted with each other by means of articulations or joints, every one being compofed of three fmall bones (!). The rattle founds "Xhenever the fnakes moves, and particularly when he is in motion to bite. This fi1ake moves with great rapidity, and upon that account it likewife obtained among the Mexicans the name of Ehecacoat!, or aerial ferpent. Its bite is attended with certain death, unlefs remedies are fpcedily applied, among which the mofl: effeCtual is thought to be the holding of the wounueu part fotne time in the earth. It bites with two teeth placed in the upper jaw, which as in the viper and other fpecies of ferpents, are moveable, hollow, and pierced at the extremity. The poifon, which is a yellowi!h cryfl:allizablc liquor, is contained in fome glands which lie over the root of thofe two teeth. Thefe glands being comprcfied in the aCtion of biting, dart through the hollow of the teeth the fatall.iquicl, and pour it by the apertures in t0 the wound and the mafs of blood. We lhould have been glad to communicate to the public feveral other obfervations which we h ave made upon this fubj eet, if th~ nature of this hifl:ory lhould h av permitted it (m). The Aburyaef!J is not very differ.en:t from the fnake jufl: dc fcribcd, except iu having no rattle. Th..is fnake, as we are told by IIcmandcz, (I) Hernandez fays, thnt n new rin;,. is added every year, nnd that the number of rhe ring. corrcfpond with the yc:1 rs of the fn ake's :tgc: but we do not know whether this is fo uu.:cd tlpon his 011 n obfcrvarions or the reports of others. (m) Father Jnamm:1, a Jcfu :r millionnry of Calif.>rnin, has mndc m::tny experiment. upon - tj1a kcs, whid1 fcrvc to con firm thofc made by Mend 11pon vipers • I 2 com- |