when cafually, or even contemptuoufly pronounced, they fail not to produce the most falutary effect. The truth of this obfervation is eftablished by a wonderful event which happened formerly in the city of Canniacoutcham.

A Bramin, whofe name was Affamelan, being much addicted to intemperance, abandoned his family, and attached himself to a woman, whofe very tribe rendered her infamous. From this time he lived the most abominable life, turned out a thief and a fot, and became a compound of jealoufy, lafcivioufnefs, and almost every crime. Indeed, after his firft fhameful commerce with this woman, the only good action of his life confifted in giving the name of Narayanen to one of the numerous children fhe brought him. In his old age, the meffengers of hell came to feize him. But in this moment of terror, wishing for the affillance of his fon, he began to call for him by name. At the words Narayana! Narayana! the minifters of Vichnou appeared and rescued him from the executioners of infernal vengeance. The latter contended, that it was unjust to rob them of their prey, and afferted their right to a villain, who deferved every punishment they could inflict, and whofe crimes were not affociated with a fingle virtue. The minifters of Vichnou granted the truth of this accufation, but affirmed, in reply, that the facred name which he had pronounced had blotted out his offences.-To this it was answered, that by the utterance of the name in queftion, the Bramin had only called on his fon, and that nothing having been farther from his thoughts than imploring the aid of Vicbnou; this cafual effect could not merit the favour of the Deity, Fire, faid the meffengers of Vichnou, though one touch it without thinking of fire, will nevertheless burn him who touches it. Poifon alfo deftroys him who has swallowed it carelessly and without design. And in the fame manner does the name of God contain in its very effence the power of annihilating fins.'

. Had we been moderators in this difpute, we fhould have fided with the minifters of Yamin, as fuperior to their adverfaries both in theological knowlege and dialectical dexterity. But our decifion would have been the effect of ignorance and prejudice: for the Bagavadam tells us that victory declared for the minifters of Vichnou, and Alfamelan efcaped with impunity.

ART. VI.

Hiftoire Naturelle des Quadrupedes Ovipares, et des Serpens, &c. i. e. The Natural Hiftory of Oviparous Quadrupeds, and Serpents. By the Count DE LA CEPEDE, Keeper of the Royal Museum, and Member of feveral learned Societies. Vol. I. 4to. pp. 651. Paris. 1788. Imported by Mr. Elmsley, in London.

THE

HE late celebrated Count de BUFFON, finding the great work on Natural Hiftory which he had undertaken, much too large a task for an individual to accomplish, especially when

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his health began to decline, committed the clafs of animals, which is the fubject of the prefent work, to his intimate friend, the Count DE LA CEPEDE. The literary productions of this lively and eloquent writer, have often engaged our attention *, and while they have conveyed inftruction on different fubjects in natural philosophy and polite literature, they have afforded no fmall degree of pleafure by the animated ftyle of the noble writer, and by the ardent zeal for the cultivation of fcience, with which he seems to be infpired. To fay that M. de Buffon could not have had a better coadjutor, might perhaps be a queftionable affertion; but we think ourselves juftifiable in saying, that he hath chofen one, who hath executed the work affigned to him, in a manner, if not fuperior, at least equal to that in which even M. DE BUFFON himself would have perform ed it. How far indeed he may have been affifted by the papers, or by verbal hints of the great naturalift, does not appear from any part of the work; there can however, be little doubt but that he had made fome obfervations on this clafs of animals, and that, moft probably, Count DE LA CEPEDE had access to them.

The Author bath diftributed the animals defcribed in this volume, into three claffes; viz. 1ft, Oviparous Quadrupeds with Tails: 2d, Oviparous Quadrupeds without tails: and 3d, Biped Reptiles. The firft clafs is fubdivided into the two genera of Tortoife and Lizard; the fecond into Grenouilles, Raines, and Crapauds †; and the third, containing only two fpecies, makes but one genus.

The marks which the Author has chofen for forming the characteristic diftinctions of the genera and fpecies are judicious. They are fuch as are conftant, fuffering no change by climate, foil, food, or other accidents; being prefent both in the male and female; and moft frequently both in the young and old

animals.

In the fpecific defcriptions, which are very ample, and generally accompanied with figures, the Author has carefully examined and compared what former writers have faid on the subject; and hath always quoted authorities for fuch particulars as he had no opportunity of obtaining by his own actual ob

fervation.

The tortoifes are divided into two kinds; viz. those inhabiting the fea, and thofe living in fresh water, or on the land.

* See Rev. lxvii. p. 289. lxviii. p. 613. lxxii. p. 495 and 501. We have here given the French generic names, because there is only one English word, viz. frog, anfwering to the two French words grenouilles and raines. Crapaud is a toad.

APP. Rev. Vol. LXXIX.

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Of the fix fea tortoifes or Turtles, which the Count has de fcribed, two have only been very flightly mentioned by preceding naturalifts or travellers; one of them he calls Naficorne, fufficiently diftinguished from the reft by a horny protuberance on the nofe: it is briefly noticed by GRONOVIUS in his Museum, II. p. 8,. N° 69, and feems to have been confounded by LINNE' with his Teftudo imbricata, which furnishes the beautiful shell, in common ufe, and known by the name of tortoife-fhell. The Naficorne, or horn-nofed turtle, is an inhabitant of the American feas near the equator, and is ufed for food. The Author expreffes a wifh that travellers would examine it more minutely, as its history is but little known at prefent. He calls the other la Tortue écaille-vert, or green-fcaled turtle; it inhabits the fouth fea, near Cape Blanco, in New Spain; it is more delicate food than the common turtle, and its fhell, having a beautiful greenifh caft, is much valued by artificers.

As a fpecimen of the attention which the Author has given to the habits and economy of the animals defcribed, we shall give the fubftance of his account of the manners of the Turtle.

The tortoife has, from time immemorial, been deemed the emblem of dulnefs and inactivity; the turtle, on the contrary, may be confidered as the emblem of prudence. This quality, which, in animals, is the confequence of the dangers to which they are expofed, ought not to be thought extraordinary in turtles, when it is confidered that their great utility makes them the objects of our moft diligent fearch; and this fearch is the more eagerly purfued in proportion as it is lefs difficult and more profitable. If, however, fome parts of their hiftory tend to prove their fuperior inftinct, others, and indeed the greater number of them, fhew that turtles are endowed rather with paffive than active qualities. Finding an abundant nourishment on the coafts which they inhabit, feeding fparingly, and contenting themselves with the fea weed on which they graze, they are under no neceffity of difputing with each other about an aliment which they find in fuch abundance. Being able, as is the cafe with the other tortoifes, and all oviparous quadrupeds, to pafs feveral months and even above a year without taking the leaft nourishment, they form a tranquil troop; they court not each other's company, but being affembled, they remain together without conftraint; they do not unite themfelves into a warlike body, by a carnivorous inftinct, the more eafily to procure a prey that is difficult to conquer, but being conducted to the fame places, by the fame defires and the fame inclinations, they preferve a peaceful union. Defended by a bony shell, extremely ftrong, and fo hard that the heaviest weights can scarcely crack it, and having no offenfive armour, the fociety has nothing to fear.

Mildness, and the power of refifting offered violence, are qualities which characterife the turtle; and to thefe qualities, per haps, the Greeks alluded, when they made the turtle a companion of Beauty, when Phidias placed it as a symbol at the feet of Venus.

The breeding feafon commences about the end of March, or the beginning of April, and the females foon after repair to fandy coafts, in order to lay their eggs. They prefer fand that is free from mud and flime, or remains of marine bodies, where the heat of the fun may more eafily hatch the eggs, which are abandoned as foon as they are laid. It does not appear that the female, as hath been faid, poffeffes an indifference for her young. Though fhe leaves her eggs on the fand, yet the fhews great marks of care for her progeny, by digging a hole about a foot diameter and two feet deep, in which about 100 eggs are depofited, that are afterward covered with a thin layer of fand, in order to be concealed from fight. They generally lay thrice, making the intervals between the layings, about a fortnight or three weeks. From experience of dangers, or, perhaps, to avoid the scorching heat of the fun, the turtles always choose to go on fhore in the night to lay their eggs; and, most probably, these nocturnal journeys have given rife to the opinion of the ancients, that the turtles fat on their eggs during the night only but it is by the heat of the fun alone that the eggs are hatched; which they commonly are in the fpace of 20 or 25 days. The young turtles proceed directly to the water; but many of them, unable to bear the fhock of the waves, are thrown back on the fhore, and become the prey of fea-fowl, crocodiles, tigers, and other animals; fo that few escape. To this fource of deftruction, we may add the number of eggs that are deftroyed by man, the great devourer of all; who diligently fearches for this delicate and nutritive food.

During the whole breeding season, viz. from April to September, the fishermen make repeated vifits to the turtle coafts, to fearch for the eggs, and catch the young, which they put into enclosures built of flakes, within high water mark; where they are kept, and fed, until they have arrived at their proper fize for use. These parks, however, contain but a small stock; fo that the fishermen are obliged to use various other means for procuring them. The moft ufual method is to watch, efpecially on moon-light nights, for the females, when they come on fhore to lay. The failors turn them on their backs, and, the day following, cut them in pieces and falt them, together with their inteftines, and eggs. The fishermen of the Antilles, and of the Bahama Ifles, who go to the coaft of Cuba and other neighbouring iflands, generally load their fhips in about fix weeks or two months, and carry their falted turtle to different

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parts of the Weft Indies and America; where it is fold cheap, as food for the negroes, in feveral colonies.

Let not, however, the good citizens of London, who adore the callipafh, or callipee, have any apprehenfion of a scarcity of this delicious food, from this immenfe confumption; for the Count DF LA CEPEDE affures us, that a turtle gives exiftence to about 300 individuals yearly, every one of which, in a very fhort space of time, is capable of producing as many. It is aftonishing to think of the vaft number of thefe animals that a fingle female will produce, in the whole course of its life +. So that were their multiplication uninterrupted, all the coafts of the torrid zone might foon be covered with these most useful quadrupeds, if only the thirtieth part of their offspring should arrive at a state of perfection.

Of the eighteen land or fresh-water tortoifes, the Count has defcribed four fpecies, before unknown, to which he has given the names Yellow, Chagrine, Reddish, and Blackish Tortoife. The yellow tortoife is now firft defcribed from a living individual in the French king's poffeffion. It is a native of America, and of the island of Afcenfion. The length of his fhell is 7 inches. The head, legs, and fhell, are fpotted with numerous goldcoloured fpots, moftly contiguous, on a deep green ground, which make a very beautiful appearance. The chagrine tortoife was brought from the Eaft Indies by M. SONNERAT, and differs from the reft in the conformation of its fhell, which has the appearance of two fhells, one much lefs, placed on the back of the other. The upper fhell is fpotted or ftudded; hence the The individual from which the description and drawing were taken being dead, and wanting the legs, the Author is not pofitive whether it is a fea or land tortoife; from analogy only he has placed it in the second divifion. The reddifh tortoife was alfo brought dead from the Eaft Indies by the fame gentleman; its diftinguishing characteristic is a chefnut coloured flattifh fhell, with pliable scales. The black tortoife is defcribed from a fhell only, in the king's museum.

Count DE LA CEPEDE diftributes the lizards into eight divifions. In the firft are comprehended the crocodile of the Nile, or alligator of the Indies; the black crocodile of the river Senegal; the gavial or crocodile of the Ganges; and eight other fmaller fpecies. The fecond divifion contains the iguana, the bafilifk, and three other fpecies. In the other fix divifions, the different fpecies are arranged according to the number and form

The Count cannot, furely, mean every one, because some must be males.

Which is generally above an hundred years.

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