CHAP. 28.—REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE STELLIO OR SPOTTED
LIZARD.
The stellio, in its turn, is said to have the greatest antipathy
to the scorpion;[1] so much so indeed, that the very sight of it
strikes terror in that reptile, and a torpor attended with cold
sweats; hence it is that this lizard is left to putrefy in oil, as
a liniment for injuries inflicted by the scorpion. Some persons
boil down the oil with litharge, and make a sort of plaster of
it to apply to the wound. The Greeks give the name of
"colotes" to this lizard, as also "ascalabotes," and "galeotes:"
it is never[2] found in Italy, and is covered with small spots,
utters a shrill, piercing noise, and lives on food; characteristics,
all of them, foreign to the stellio of Italy.