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Rh attack quadrupeds that come to quench their thirst; and that he has seen them attack a young stag as he attempted to swim across a river, in order to drown him. He even declares that he found the thigh-bone of a sheep in the stomach of one which he dissected. Inhabiting, in many cases, waters which are likewise tenanted by Crocodiles and Alligators, they are vulgarly believed to be beneficial to mankind by giving warning of the proximity of these much-dreaded creatures. This, it is asserted, they do by a hissing, or whistling sound; and though, probably, having little foundation in truth, this reputation has procured them the names of Monitors, Sauvegardes, &c., and has caused them to be regarded with a measure of popular respect.

The scales of the body in this genus are set side by side in the skin, and are each surrounded by a ring of small and close-set tubercles: the upper edge of the tail is more or less sharp, and there is a fold beneath the neck, passing transversely in front of the breast.

We illustrate the terrestrial Monitors by the White-throated Varan of South Africa, (Varanus albogularis, ,) a species the locality of which was unknown, till it was met with by Dr. A. Smith in his late zoological expedition into the interior of that continent. Though he did not obtain any specimens of this Lizard south of Latakoo, yet there is reason to believe that it has been occasionally seen within the limits of the Cape Colony; and the Doctor supposes that