(9.) Liattathan' ("rrilb) sometimes stands for the largest of the lizard tribe, the crocodile. — "Winer. See Leviathan.
Under the denomination of lizard the modern zoolo- gist places all the cold-blooded animals that have the conformation of seqients with the addition of four feet. Thus viewed as one great family, they constitute the Saurians, Lacertinw, and Lacertidai of authors, embra- cing numerous geuerical divisions, which commence w'ith the largest, that is, the crocodile group, and pass through sundry others, a variety of species, formidalde, disgusting, or pleasing in appearance — some equally fre- quenting the land and water, others absolutely conlined to the earth and to the most arid deserts; and, tliough in general harmless, there are a fe^\• with disputed prop- erties, some being held to jjoison or corrode by means of the exudation of an ichor, and others extolled as aphro- disiacs, or of medical use in pharmacy ; but these prop- erties in most, if not in all, are undetermined or illusory. One of the best known of these is the common chame- leon {Chamaleo ridgarig). See Chameleon. When it is considered that the regions of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt are overrun with animals of this family, there is every reason to expect allusion to more than one genus in the Scriptures, where so many observations and similes are derived from the natural objects vv'hich were familiar
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to the various writers.
and in ruins in even' part of Palestine and the adjacent comitries. There is one species partic- idarly abundant and small, well known in Arabia by the name of Sarabcvidi. We now come to the SfeUiones, wliich have been confounded with the noxious geckos and otliers from the time of Al- drovandus, and tlience have been a source of in- extricable trouble to commentators. They are best known by the bundles of starlike spines on the body. Among these Lacerta stellio, Sttllio Oi'ientalis, the kooklCh\oq of the Greeks, and hardiai of the Arabs, is abundant in the East, and a great frequenter of ruinous walls. The genus Uroinastix offers SielJio fpim'pes of Daudin or Ur- sjnnipes, two or three feet long, of a fine green, and is the species which is believed to strike v.-itli the tail ; hence formerly denominated Caudce vcr- bera. It is frequent in the deserts around Egj-pt, and is probably the Guaril of the Arabs. Another subgenus, named Trapelus by Cuvier, is exempli- fied in the 7V. ^■Er/ypliacus of Geoff., with a spi- nous swelled body, but remarkable for the faculty Among the names enumerated i ofchanging color more rapidly than the chameleon. Next
Chamcelco Vulgaris.
above, Bochart refers 3iJ, tsuh (Lev. xi, 29), to one of the group of Monitors or Varanus, the Nilotic lizard, Z(/ce?-- ta Nilotica, Varanus I^'iloticus, or Waran of the Arabs. Like the others of this form, it is possessed of a tail double the length of the body, but is not so well known in Palestine, where there is only one real river (Jordan), and that not tenanted by this species. It appears that tlic true crocodile frequented the shores and marshes of the coast down to a comparatively late period, and there- fore it may well have had a more specific name than leviathan — a ^vord apparently best suited to the digni- fied and lofty diction of the prophets, and clearly of more general signification than the more colloquial des- ignation. Jerome was of this opinion ; and it is thus likely that fsab was applied to both, as Wcu-an is now considered only a variety of, or a young, crocodile. There is a second of the same group, Lacerta scinciis of iMerrem {Varanus arenarius), Waran el-hard, also reaching to six feet in length ; and a third, not as yet clearly described, which appears to be larger than either, growing to nine feet, and covered with bright cupreous scales. This last prefers rocky and stony situations. One of the last mentioned pursues its prey on land with a rapid bounding action, feeds on the larger insects, and is said to attack game in a body, sometimes destroj'ing even sheep. The Arabs, in agreement with the an- cients, assert that this species will do fierce and victori- ous battle with serpents. Considerations like these in- duce us to assign the Hebrew name Xyz, Lvach (a desig- nation of strength) to the species of the desert ; and if the Nilotic tcaran be the tsab, then the Arabian dhab, as Bruce asserts, will be Varanus arenarius, or waran el-hard of the present familiar language, and chardaun the larger copper-colored species above noticed. But it is evident from the Arabic authorities quoted by Bo- chart, and from his own conclusions, that there is not only confusion among the species of lizard, but that the ichneumon of EgjiDt (Jlorpestes rharaunis) is mixed up with the historj' of these saurians.
We come next to the group of lizards more properly so called, which Hebrew commentators take to be the ilNub, letaah, a name having some allusion to poison and atlhesiveness. The word occurs only once (Lev. xi, 30), where saurians alone appear to be indicated. If the Heb. root were to guiiie the decision, letaah would be another name for the yecko or anaka/i, for there is but one species which can be deemed venomous ; and with regard to the quality of adhesiveness, though the geckos possess it most, numerous common lizards run up and down perpendicular walls with great facility. We therefore take i:'ain, chomet, or the sand lizard of Bo- chart, to be the true lizard, several (probably many) species existing in myriads on the rocks in sandy places,