BLIND-WORM. 45 
in two either by a blow or an attempt to bend it. Hence 
it acquired the specific name of fragilis, applied to it by 
Linneus. This property, however, is not peculiar to the 
present species: the Glass-snake, as it is called, an Ame- 
rican species, has derived its name from a similar circum- 
stance. Like the Viper, and, in a less degree, also the 
Common Snake, this species is not easily induced to feed 
ina state of confinement. I have kept them repeatedly, 
and have offered them young frogs and insects, but with- 
out being able to induce them to take them. That this 
failure, however, was rather due to my ignorance of their 
favourite food than to any disinclination on their parts 
to feed in captivity, the following note by Mr. George 
Daniel in Mr. Bennett’s edition of White’s Selborne suf- 
ficiently testifies. 
“* A Blind-worm that I kept alive for nine weeks, would, 
when touched, turn and bite, although not very sharply ; 
its bite was not sufficient to draw blood, but it always re- 
tained its hold until released. It drank sparingly of milk, 
raising the head when drinking. It fed upon the little 
white slug (Limaz agrestis, Linn.) so common in fields and 
gardens, eating six or seven of them, one after the other; 
but it did not eat every day. It invariably took them in 
one position. Hlevating its head slowly above its victim, 
it would suddenly seize the slug by the middle} in the same 
way that a ferret or dog will generally take a rat by the 
loins ; ( it would then hold it thus sometimes for more than 
a minute, when it would pass its prey through its jaws, 
and swallow the slug head foremost. It refused the larger 
slugs, and would not touch either young frogs or mice. 
Snakes kept in the same cage took both frogs and mice. 
The Blind-worm avoided the water; the Snakes, on the 
contrary, coiled themselves in the pan containing water 
