296 NATURE ST UD Y RE VIE W [9 :9— Dec. ,1913 



A very efficient telegraph instrument may be made by any boy 

 from the diagram shown in figure 7. The electro-magnet above 

 described is mounted as shown in a hole made in a board. Above 

 it is suspended by a rubber band a nail held close to the magnet 

 by the brad, d (Fig. 6). The other end of the nail is supported on 

 brad, b. The sender is made of a nail (or copper wire) m n held up 



Fig. 6. 



at one end by a rubber band p so that the gap may be closed by 

 pressing the nail down on the brass tack r. 



Batteries discarded by automobile owners and garages can easily 

 be obtained by the children without cost, and are sufficiently 

 strong for such work. 



A good test of the value of nature-study is the amount of per- 

 sonal effort which pupils are willing to make. 



The Glass "Snake" 



J. T. BUCHHOLZ 



A very common reptile of the South is a legless lizard Ophiosaii- 

 rus ventralis commonly called the glass "snake," or sometimes the 

 joint "snake." When crawling through the grass it looks very 

 much like a serpent, and only a close examination will reveal the 

 fact that it is a lizard without legs. It lives in grassy meadows 

 and burrows in the ground, depending for locomotion upon its 

 ability to twist itself through the grass in a gliding, zigzag fashion. 

 When placed upon a smooth surface like the floor, it is quite help- 



