'LIZZIE: 477 



of this reputed deafness Is difficult to conjecture. In the 

 way of external ears, those of the slow-worm are less dis- 

 tinct than those of lizards generally, but more so than in 

 snakes, which have no visible aural apertures ; whereas in 

 the slow-worms they can be discerned if sought for, though 

 they are very small and indistinct. 



Not much less perplexing is the supposititious ' blindness ' 

 of the slow-worm. This must have had its origin in days 

 long before * gentle-folk ' took rural walks for the purpose 

 of observing natural objects ; long before Shakspeare's 

 time, and when slow-worms were far more numerous than 

 now. Probably those who saw most of them were the 

 peasantry, and that in winter time, when, in their out-door 

 work, they would discover a number hibernating. A score 

 or two of slow-worms in company with a few snakes and 

 adders brought to light In turning up stones or earth, would 

 attract the rustics, when a stray one in sumrrier time would 

 pass unnoticed or, at any rate, unexamined. Though the 

 larger reptiles would be equally torpid, their eyes would 

 show all the same, while the slow-worm's eyes would be so 

 tightly closed that their place could hardly be found. Thus 

 they were presumably * blind.' This is mere conjecture in 

 seeking a reason, but ' blind worms ' they were in England 

 long before the typJdops (p. 187) of the tropics was known, 

 and long before any other ' naturalist ' than Topsell and his 

 like wrote upon * Serpentes' and the AinpJiisbcena Eiiropcea. 



Topsell, by the way, whom we quoted on the subject of 

 tongues, thought he knew all about slow-worms, and gave 

 them credit for a length and power of tail far exceeding 

 those of the present day. ' They have been seen to suck 



