and the palla, a small but excellent fish, which is
captured in the Indus during the flood season. The Indian Ocean and
the Persian Gulf, as we have seen, were visited by whales; dolphins,
porpoises, cod, and mullet abounded in the same seas; the large rivers
generally contained barbel and carp; while some of them, together with
many of the smaller streams, supplied trout of a good flavor. The
Nile had some curious fish peculiar to itself, as the oxyrinchus,
the lepidotus, the Perca Nilotica, the Silurus Schilbe Niloticus, the
Silurus carmuth and others. Great numbers of fish, mostly of the same
species with those of the Nile, were also furnished by the Lake Moeris;
and from these a considerable revenue was derived by the Great Kings.

Among the more remarkable of the reptiles which the Empire comprised
within its limits may be noticed--besides the great saurians already
mentioned among the larger animals--the Nile and Euphrates turtles
(_Trionyx Egypticus_ and _Trionyx Euphraticus_), iguanas (_Stellio
vulgaris_ and _Stellio spinipes_), geckos, especially the Egyptian house
gecko (_O. lobatus_), snakes, such as the asp (_Coluber haje_) and
the horned snake (_Coluber cerastes_), and the chameleon. The Egyptian
turtle is a large species, sometimes exceeding three feet in length. It
is said to feed on the young of the crocodile. Both it and the Euphrates
turtle are of the soft kind, i.e., of the kind which has not the shell
complete, but unites the upper and under portions by a coriaceous
membrane. The turtle of the Euphrates is of moderate size, not exceeding
a a length of two feet. It lives in the river, and on warm days suns
itself on the sandbanks with which the stream abounds. It is active,
strong, violent, and passionate. When laid on its back it easily
recovers itself. If provoked, it will snap at sticks and other objects,
and endeavor to tear them to pieces. It is of an olive-green color, with
large irregular greenish black spots.

Iguanas are found in Egypt, in Syria, and elsewhere. The most common
kind (_Stellio vulgaris_) does not exceed a foot in length, and is of
an olive color, shaded with black. It is persecuted and killed by the
Mahometans, because they regard its favorite attitude as a derisive
imitation of their own attitude of prayer. There is another species,
also Egyptian, which is of a much larger size, and of a grass-green
color. This is called _Stellio spinipes_: it has a length of from two to
thre