ed figure is still recognisable among the hieroglyphical representations of the Theban temples. It also occurs in the southern regions of Africa, and has not unfrequently been imported into Britain to beautify the waters of our pleasuregrounds; but the love of liberty is deeply implanted in this bird, and it is with difficulty that even the young, born and bred in northern climates, are retained for a continuance in a state of satisfied domestication.

The crimson-billed sheldrake (Tadorna erythrorhyncha) inhabits the Cape of Good Hope; and a species of musk-duck (Anas Nilotica of Gmelin) is found in Upper Egypt. It is easily tamed, and lives on good terms with other poultry.

From the preceding summary, the student of ornithology will be able to form a sufficiently correct idea of the prevailing features which characterize this branch of science in Africa; and, by comparing the present sketch with those which we purpose to exhibit of other countries in the future volumes of our series, he will likewise be enabled to estimate the peculiarities by which the continent in question is distinguished from all the other quarters of the globe.

CHAPTER XXI.

Natural History of the Reptiles, Fishes, Shells, Insects, &c. of Africa.

Introductory Observations-Crocodiles-Lizards-Chameleon— Serpents Frogs-General Observations on Fishes-Muræna— Gobius-Cottus-Scorpaena-Zeus-Remora-Labrus-Mackerel -Surmullet-Flying Gurnard-Electric Silure-Salmon-Polypterus-Argentine-Flying-fish-Polyneme-African HerringCarp-Mormyrus - Ray - Ostracion-Tetrodon - Pipe-fishFossil Fish-General Observations on Shells-Various African Species-Remarks on the Distribution of Insects-Goliathus, &c. Paussus-Mantis-Locusts-Butterfly Tribe - Bees -Scorpions Centipedes Zoophytes-Coral-Sponge Guinea Worm.

INTERMEDIATE between the birds and fishes are the reptile race, divided by naturalists into four principal branches, the Chelonian, the Saurian, the Ophidian, and the Batrachian reptiles. Of all these, Africa, "fruitful in monsters," produces some remarkable examples.

In regard to the geographical distribution of reptiles, the first and most general observation is, that they augment in number as we advance towards the equatorial regions. While Sweden possesses scarcely a dozen lizards and snakes, about three or four frogs and toads, and not a single tortoise, the temperate parts of Europe produce about forty snakes and lizards, and several of the tortoise tribe. As soon as we gain the southern extremity of Spain, the number of species in these tribes greatly increases, and in Andalusia the African complexion of the country is still farther manifested by the appearance of the chameleon. On proceeding farther south, not only does the number of reptiles increase, but they also augment in size, till, from the Tropic of Cancer, onwards and beyond the Line, we meet with the crocodiles, caymans, boas, and other giants of the reptile race. For the present, however, we must confine ourselves to a brief allusion to a very limited number of the African tribes.

1st, Chelonian reptiles, or tortoises and turtles. Several of this division occur in Africa, such as the Testudo Græca, the Testudo triunguis, &c.

2d, Saurian reptiles. To this division belong the crocodiles and lizards, the geckos, chameleons, and many others.

The common crocodile (Lacerta crocodilus), celebrated in the ancient history of Egypt, is spread over a considerable extent of this continent.

"Erewhile, emerging from the brooding sand,
With tiger paw he prints the brineless strand;
High on the flood, with speckled bosom swims,
Helm'd with broad tail, and oar'd with giant limbs;
Rolls his fierce eyeballs, clasps his iron claws,
And champs with gnashing teeth his massy jaws.
Old Nilus sighs through all his cane-crown'd shores,
And swarthy Memphis trembles and adores."

There are several different kinds of crocodile in the old and new world, and their tempers and dispositions seem to vary in different localities. Humboldt and Mungo Park regarded them with fear and trembling, whilst Audubon and Mr Waterton hold them in little consideration either as friends or foes. Though seldom tamed, they are not by any means incapable of domestication, as has been demonstrated by many examples, both in ancient and modern times.

Many lizards occur in Africa. We shall only mention one found near Mourzouk. It is called aselis, and, if not a true lizard, resembles one in form. When alarmed, it buries itself in the sand; and, when dropped from a height, it immediately sinks beneath the surface of the spot on which it fell. "These little creatures," says Captain Lyon, " are eagerly bought by the girls and married women, for the purpose of ascertaining how many children they shall have. By stretching them the skin will immediately crack, and the women most religiously believe that for every sound they shall bear a child."

One of the most remarkable families of the saurian tribe is that which contains the chameleons. The common species (Lacerta Africana) is found in Egypt, Barbary, and the south of Spain. The changes of colour in these animals, though by some deemed fabulous, are now beyond dispute. The causes of these changes, however, and their mode of action, may still be classed among the more obscure points of natural history. They seem independent of external objects, and vary within a certain range, almost every hour.

"Non mihi tot cultus numero comprendere fas est:
Adjicit ornatus proxima quæque dies."

3d, Ophidian reptiles, or serpents. Among the most remarkable of the African species of this division is the cerastes,

or horned viper. It is characterized by a small curved horn over each eyelid. It lives in the sand, and was well known to the ancients. Another singular serpent is the haje (Coluber haje, Linn.) The Egyptian jugglers, by pressing the neck of this creature between their fingers, produce a kind of catalepsy which renders it stiff and motionless. This is rather a curious fact when considered in connexion with the scriptural narrative in the seventh chapter of Exodus, where the rods of the magicians when thrown down are converted into serpents.

This species was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as the emblem of the protecting divinity of the world, and its figure is frequently sculptured on each side of a globe, on the outer gates of their temples.

The soil

4th, The Batrachian reptiles, such as frogs, &c. Africa produces comparatively few species of this division. is probably too dry. We shall here mention only the shortheaded toad (Rana breviceps) described by Linnæus in the Amanitates Academicæ, vol. i. It is a very small species, a native of Senegal and some other parts of Africa.

The great and almost inexhaustible class of fishes next demands our attention.

Our acquaintance with the laws which regulate the geographical distribution of this class is extremely meagre: in other words, the facts illustrating the greater or less extension of their localities are few, and have never been properly generalized. From the immeasurable extent and continuous nature of the fluid which they inhabit, they are supplied by nature with greater facilities of dispersion than most other animals; while the greater equality of the temperature of water, when compared with that of either earth or air, admits, in several instances, of the same species inhabiting almost every latitude from pole to pole. Those races especially, which, travelling together in vast shoals, speedily consume the natural food which each particular spot affords, are obliged, like the pastoral tribes of old, or the woodland hunters of America, to remove from place to place in search of additional supplies; and thus the species acquires a more widely-extended geographical distribution. It is thus that the cod and herring are spread over the whole extent of the Northern Ocean, and in undiminished numbers, notwithstanding the war of extermination which man and other voracious animals appear to wage against them. Those species which lead a solitary, and, as it may be called, a stationary life, are frequently confined within very narrow limits. The Chatodons,

for example, which delight in rocky coasts covered with madrepores, attach themselves to the torrid zone, which produces so abundantly those magnificent ornaments of the sea. But though thus confined to particular spots, from which the individuals of the species never wander, the species itself may be said to be repeated again in different and distant regions, separated from each other by almost insurmountable obstacles. Thus many of what may be termed stationary species are found identically the same along the coasts of Brazil, in the Arabian Gulf, and over the multiplied shores of Polynesia. It has hence been concluded that such species, incapable of colonizing themselves by leaving their accustomed shores, and hazarding a journey across unknown oceans, have either been created in more places than one, or have been enabled to transport themselves by means different from any of those which are now available in the ordinary course of nature.*

If the natural means by which the more powerful species, inhabiting the saline waters of the ocean, have spread themselves from clime to clime, be in some measure within the reach of our comprehension, it is otherwise with those peculiar to rivers and the waters of inland lakes. How these have contrived to migrate from one region to another, and to people with identical species the depths of far-removed and solitary waters, separated from each other by chains of lofty mountains, or wideextended wastes of desert sand, is a problem which, in the present state of our knowledge, we seek in vain to solve.†

Of the genus Muræna several species occur in the African seas. The spotted muræna (M. guttata) was observed by Forskall in the Red Sea. A small species of goby, scarcely exceeding an inch in length, is found in the Nile. It is the Gobius aphya of Linn. We may here mention that the name aphya, by which this species has been distinguished, seems to have been applied by the ancient writers to such small fishes as they vaguely supposed to have been produced rather from the foam of the ocean than according to the usual process of nature.‡ Several species of bull-head (Cottus) are described by Commerson, and the genus Scorpaena, so eccentric in its forms, is represented in the African seas, among others by the Cape scorpæna (S. Capensis), mentioned by Gronovius. A magnificent fish

* See Gaymard's Mémoire sur la Distribution Géographique des Poissons. Illustrations

See farther on this subject the 5th number of of Zoology.

See Shaw's General Zoology, vol. v. p. 245.

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