DRAGON (δpακωr, sharp-sighted), the name given by the ancients to a fabulous monster represented by them as a huge winged lizard or serpent. They regarded it as the enemy of mankind, and its overthrow is made to figure among the greatest exploits of the gods and heroes of heathen mythology. A dragon watched the garden of the Hesperides, and its destruction formed one of the seven labours of Hercules. Its existence does not seem to have been called in question by the older naturalists, figures of the dragon appearing in the works of Gesner and Aldrovandi, and even specimens of the monster—evidently formed artificially of portions of various animals—having been exhibited. The only creatures ever known to have existed, at all comparable to this imaginary monster, are the Pterodactyls, remains of which are found in the Liassic and Oolitic formations. These were huge reptiles, provided with true wings somewhat resembling those of bats. The name “dragon” is now applied to a highly interesting, but very harmless, group of small flying lizards forming the genus Draco, belonging to the Agamidae, a family of Saurian Reptiles. They inhabit India and the islands of the Malay Archipelago, and 18 species of them are known. They are small creatures, measuring about 10 inches long, including the tail, which in some cases is more than half of the entire length. The head is small, and the throat is provided with three pouches which arc spread out when they lie on the trunks of trees. They are, however, chiefly remarkable for the wing-like cutaneous processes with which their sides are provided, and which are extended and supported by greatly elongated ribs. These form a sort of parachute by which the animals are enabled to glide from branch to branch of the trees on which ...

This word is frequently to be met with in our English translation of the Bible. It answers generally to the Hebrew תן, תנין, תנים; and these words are variously rendered _dragons_, _serpents_, _sea-monsters_, and _whales_. The Rev. James Hurdis, in a dissertation relative to this subject, observes, that the word translated “whales,” in Gen. i, 21, occurs twenty-seven times in Scripture; and he attempts, with much ingenuity, to prove that it every where signifies the crocodile. That it sometimes has this meaning, he thinks is clear from Ezekiel xxix, 3: “Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers.” For, to what could a king of Egypt be more properly compared than the crocodile? The same argument he draws from Isaiah li, 9: “Art thou not he that hath cut Rahab, [Egypt,] and wounded the dragon?” Among the ancients the crocodile was the symbol of Egypt, and appears so on Roman coins. Some however have thought the hippopotamus intended; others, one of the larger species of serpents.