British Reptiles and Amphibians 

 CHAPTER II 



BRITISH REPTILES *. LIZARDS 



To the uninitiated observer a reptile is a serpent or 

 a creature that crawls upon its belly, and is commonly 

 accounted legless. A reptile is a cold-blooded verte- 

 brate having scales or plates over its body in place of 

 fur or feather as in other animals. It breathes by lungs 

 throughout life. The existence of legs is not a sufficient 

 distinction between what is and what is not a reptile. 

 By way of illustration, the student may take the British 

 Slow-worm, and find that the creature resembles a 

 serpent to all outside appearance. Yet this appearance 

 is somewhat misleading. Scientific classification decrees 

 that the Slow-worm (or Blind-worm, as it is sometimes 

 termed) is nothing more than a legless example of 

 a Lizard, and is comparable with the so-called " Glass 

 Snakes " of South-Eastern Europe and America. 

 Although externally exhibiting no signs of legs, the 

 Slow-worm has within its skin the rudiments of these 

 organs. The eyes also give further evidence of its 

 affinity to the Lizard. These are furnished with 

 movable eyelids, a phenomenon which does not occur 

 amongst the true Snakes. There are other minor 

 details that uphold this scientific classification which 

 need not be specially referred to here. It is, however, 

 rather curious to note that the Slow-worm casts its 

 skin after the manner of snakes ; yet this fact does not 



6 



