And ere that fever leaves the granite veins, Down thunders o'er the waste a torrid sea: Now Flood, now Fire, alternate despot reigns, Immortal foes to be. Built by the warring elements, they rise, The massive earth-foundations, tier on tier, Where slimy monsters with unhuman eyes

You know it is, you slimy salamander, and so does PUNCHINELLO.

The only thing that had a chance with these monsters to get any share of the Food were the rushes and slimy green scum in the water and the seedling weeds in the mud at the bottom.

But from a child I feared Horses, and slimy snakes.