ANIMAL SELF-DEFENSE. 609 



start off, making a series of sharp turns and dives, sometimes over 

 bushes and at others through them. When it conceives that it is ob- 

 served, it will crouch in the long grass or behind a bush, as though it 

 were going to lie down. This conduct is, however, nothing but a ruse 

 for the purpose of concealing its retreat, as it will then crawl along 

 under the foliage for several yards, and, when it has gone to some dis- 

 tance in this sly manner, it will again bound away." 



"When a slug or naked snail enters a bee-hive, the bees fall upon 

 him and sting him to death, as a matter of course. But what to 

 do with the carcass then becomes a vital question. And now is ex- 

 hibited the wonderful intelligence of the social insects. The body is 

 too large for the bees to move ; but if left it will breed pestilence. 

 They cover it with wax ; they embalm it, as did nations of old 

 their dead. But a shelled snail entering*- the hive is invulnerable to 

 their weapons, so they cement his shell to the bottom of the hive. It 

 is a sentence of imprisonment for life, with no hope of pardon. Yet 

 such manifestations of thought we call " instinct," because we wish to 

 monopolize "intelligence." 



Oddest of all defensive methods is that of snapping off the tail. 

 The blind-worm, or slow- worm, is a little snake-like lizard common in 



Fig. 12. Blint)-Wor3I (Anguis fragV.is). 



the Old World. When alarmed it contracts its muscles in such man- 

 ner and degree as to break its tail off at a considerable distance from 

 the end. But how can this aid it ? The detached tail then dances 

 about very lively, holding the attention of the offender, while the liz- 

 ard himself slinks away. And for a considerable time the tail retains 

 its capability of twisting and jumping every time it is struck. The 

 lizard will then gfow another tail, so as to be prepared for another 

 vol. xxi. 39 



