BLIND-WORM. 43 



then so fragile as to be easily broken 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 American species, has derived its 

 name from a similar circumstance. Like the Viper, and, in 

 a less degree, also the Common Snake, this species is not 

 easily induced to feed in a state of confinement. I have 

 kept them repeatedly, and have offered them young frogs 

 and insects, but without 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 

 sufficiently 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 retained 

 its hold until released. It drank sparingly of milk, raising 

 the head when drinking. It fed upon the little white slug 

 {Limax 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. 

 Elevating 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 which was put into the cage, and 

 appeared to delight in it. The Blind-worm was a remark- 



