Its face resembles that of the baboon. Its tail is
exceedingly long, terminates in a sharp point, and is for the most
part coiled up, like a strap of leather. It stands higher off the
ground than the lizard, but the flexure of the legs is the same in
both creatures. Each of its feet is divided into two parts, which bear
the same relation to one another that the thumb and the rest of the
hand bear to one another in man. Each of these parts is for a short
distance divided after a fashion into toes; on the front feet the
inside part is divided into three and the outside into two, on the
hind feet the inside part into two and the outside into three; it
has claws also on these parts resembling those of birds of prey. Its
body is rough all over, like that of the crocodile. Its eyes are
situated in a hollow recess, and are very large and round, and are
enveloped in a skin resembling that which covers the entire body;
and in the middle a slight aperture is left for vision, through
which the animal sees, for it never covers up this aperture with the
cutaneous envelope. It keeps twisting its eyes round and shifting
its line of vision in every direction, and thus contrives to get a
sight of any object that it wants to see.
Pages:
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82