'lizzie: 481 



exclaimed, on hearing a lady inquire about my pets. I 

 assured him they were as clean and dry as the ruler on 

 the table. The young gentlemen exchanged dubious 

 glances, and nearly all of them attributed to my undue 

 partiality the assurance that they were not * slimy.' ' I 

 always thought they were, — didn't yoii ? ' they said to each 

 other. 



A word must be added on the subject of skin-shedding in 

 the slow-worms, various processes having been described ; as 

 that it is * always shed in pieces,' ' always splits on the head 

 first,' etc. As no tvv'o of my pets doffed their coats at regular 

 periods, or precisely in the same manner, I judged that, as in 

 snakes, the sloughing depended principally on the health of 

 the individual, or the temperature. They all invariably began 

 at the lips, rubbing their heads till the skin separated round 

 the mouth exactly as snakes do, and then crawled out of it. 

 In one case the skin was shed iinreverscd throughout the 

 entire length. This was pushed off and left behind in a 

 crumpled form, but in picking it up it extended uninjured to 

 its original length, perfect from mouth to tail. Others were 

 reversed as far as the tail, which slipped out ' hke a sword 

 out of its scabbard,' as described by Mr. Bell ; others were 

 reversed throughout the lencjth. Sometimes they were in 

 pieces, and this was, I think, attributable to insufficient 

 moisture. One did not change after August ; others 

 changed several times during the summer; so that there 

 appears to be the same sort of caprice, or more probably 

 of unascertained causes for variable processes, in casting 

 the cuticle as in snakes. 



' Lizzie's ' bibulous propensities were mentioned p. 89. 



2 H 



