466 SNAKES. 



embryo life. But in addition to accidents were the extremely 

 cold and sunless summer and the ten weeks of disturbed and 

 comfortless existence ; and then the green lizard was for ever 

 scrambling about and scratching the earth in all directions. 

 He alone was enough to make a conglomerate of the 

 unmatured eggs. 



The remaining one of the supposed eggs was put aside 

 with other specimens, and almost forgotten till the present 

 time. Looking at it now after it has been two years in the 

 spirits of wine, I find the sandy surface washed off and 

 deposited as sediment, and in a partly torn and ruptured 

 membrane behold a perfect little Anguis fragilis quite as big 

 as those others which were hatched. Whether this happens 

 to be a more perfect embryo than those that were hardened, 

 or whether it has grown softer and more distinguishable 

 through being in liquid, it is impossible to say, except that 

 here it is. There were, then, two broods, as had been 

 anticipated, and in both cases eight or nine. The precise 

 date of the hard eggs is not clear ; probably they were 

 produced first. The warmth of the room at length did for 

 Blackie what the sun had failed to do ; and even then her 

 young ones were not fully matured. The other one, through 

 many vicissitudes, in common with her big cousin Anaconda, 

 produced bad eggs. Truly are not these two — or say only 

 one — is not Blackie's case a verification of what the author of 

 British Reptiles affirmed of these slow-worms : * There is no 

 doubt that the duration of the period of gestation must 

 depend on the temperature to which the animal is exposed,' 

 even if this be not another instance of retarded deposition. 



A word more, in conclusion, about the tiny progeny. 



