THE BLTNDWOKM. 43 



Of all the guiltless beings which are met with, we 

 have none less chargeable with criminality than the 

 poor Slow-worm ; yet none are more frequently de- 

 stroyed than it, included, as it is, in the general and 

 deep-rooted prejudice attached to the serpent race. 

 The viper and snake, though they experience no 

 mercy, escape often by the activity of action ; but 

 this creature, from the slowness of its movements, 

 falls a more ready victim. We call it a " blindworm," 

 possibly from the supposition that, as it makes little 

 effort to escape, it sees badly ; but its eyes, though 

 rather small, are clear and lively, with no apparent 

 defect of vision. The natural habits of the slow- 

 worm are obscure ; and living in the deepest foliage 

 and the roughest banks, he is generally secreted 

 from observation ; but loving warmth, like all his 

 race, he creeps, half torpid, from his hole, to bask in 

 spring-time in the rays of the sun, and is, if seen, 

 inevitably destroyed. Exquisitely formed as all 

 these gliding creatures are, for rapid and uninter- 

 rupted transit through herbage and such impedi- 

 ments, it is yet impossible to examine a Slow-worm 

 without admiration at the peculiar neatness and 

 fineness of the scales with wmich it is covered. All 

 separate as they are, they lap over and close upon 

 each other with such exquisite exactitude, as to ap- 

 pear only as faint markings upon the skin, requiring 

 a magnifier to ascertain their separations ; and to 



