290 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly Nov. 



young ones on the day of their birth and found that they 

 were 33^ inches in length, a size considerably larger 

 than that given in the article referred to. From the 

 time of birth they were extremely active, and commenced 

 to feed upon good-sized slugs the day after they were born. 

 One of the young, on being handled, disgorged a slug quite 

 half-an-inch in length which it had swallowed. 



I took several photographs of the mothers and the young 

 together soon after birth, but on account of the extreme 

 activity of the young ones they did not turn out as success- 

 ful as I hoped. The most satisfactory perhaps is the one 

 reproduced in this issue, but the incessant wriggling was 

 most trying to the patience of the photographer. 



This record may be of value in the first place as show- 

 ing the time of the year at which slow-worms are born ; and 

 secondly, in establishing the fact that they live upon slugs in 

 the very earliest stages of their independent existence. 



In spite of careful observation I have been unable to 

 detect any signs of parental relationship between the mother 

 and the family, which corresponds with what has been stated 

 by other ob; ervers. 



[The above observations are most valuable, and Mr 

 Watkins is to be congratulated on being so fortunate as 

 to obtain the specimens described, and upon his excellent 

 illustration of the family. We stated that the time of birth 

 was August or September, and in a cold season like the 

 present has been, the latter month would naturally be the 

 one for the event to occur in. The size of the young in 

 these two cases is most interesting, and greater than the 

 measurements which had previously come under our own 

 notice. Doubtless, as in adders and other reptiles which 

 are ovo-viviparous, the size of the young at birth varies 

 much, — probably both these parents were large ones. The 

 food in captivity is of course what the owner chooses to 

 give them, but it is interesting to note that the young ones 

 take to the food of their elders so soon. — Ed. F. N. Q.] 



