History of Monsters. 597

In the genus of lizards, a certain species is recorded known as the Green Lizard, or the Greater Lizard, because it appears twice or three times larger than the common lizard. The Greeks call it *saura chlora*, and more recent writers *chlorosaura* because of its green color. In Bologna, it is called the *Liguoro*, perhaps as if it were "Ligurian," because creatures of this kind occur more frequently in Liguria. Later, Sylvaticus identifies this lizard as the *ophiomachus* due to its habit of overcoming and attacking serpents—and not without reason, since this beast attacks snakes by natural instinct and battles them most fiercely; indeed, country folk have often observed it seizing serpents by the throat. Thus, one of these animals from this genus, possessing a monstrously bifurcated tail, came into our hands, which we present to the reader drawn in figure III.

And because this animal was so greatly pleasing for its beauty, it was disemboweled and carefully dried, and it is still kept hanging in the public museum. Therefore, we also present the image of this dried skin found in the museum, showing its double tail, in figure IV.

I believe we should not dwell long on the causes, as these specific causes are to be drawn from the universal ones explained above. For if we look at the absence of a tail, we often see that dogs lacking a tail frequently produce offspring like themselves; thus, this cause coincides with the one where we discussed monstrous parents. Unless, perhaps, we wish to attribute this effect to a lack of matter or a weakened formative power, all of which can be the cause of a tail's defect—though sometimes these kinds of monstrous effects are generated without a lack of matter or a weakening of the operating force, simply because the matter is unfit to receive the form of such a part.

If anyone wishes to know the causes for which a tail is sometimes monstrously added to a human fetus, one must turn to the causes of foul skin appendages.

Regarding the doubling of tails, Giambattista della Porta, in his *Natural Magic*, weighing the multiplication of tails in lizards, admitted it could happen that this effect stems from "double-yolked" eggs—what the Greeks call *dilekythos*, meaning a twin vessel or double flask. Therefore, he wanted to suggest that sometimes two eggs are joined, resembling a double flask, which can produce doubled tails. However, it is also possible that the matter intended for the formation of the tail, if divided into two or three parts, might produce this multiplication of tails.

*CHAPTER VIII: On Offspring that Degenerate from Both Parents.*

Although there have been many authors who recorded in their writings that births unlike their parents should not be placed among monsters, we nevertheless cannot help but call those fetuses monstrous which are not similar to the nature of their parents. Our reasoning is drawn from the *Problems* of Aristotle, where the Philosopher inquires why a human offspring coming from human seed is called "ours," while conversely, one that is dissimilar, though it comes from a human womb, is by no means called "ours." He answers that this arises from the fact that a fetus emerging from perfect and uncorrupted seed resembles us, and consequently the offspring can be called "ours." However, that which is produced from corrupted seed is dissimilar, and consequently should not be referred to as human offspring, but must be judged as entirely monstrous. Aristotle’s words are these: *But if a living thing is born from our own things through seed alone, we rightly think that what comes forth in this way is our offspring; however, where it has rotted either outside or is corrupted within the womb, such as those which*