136 



roughly handled, there is no doubt that the popular notion is correct. 

 Two-thirds or more of the Glass-snake is tail. It is a well-known fact that 

 many lizards on being seized drop their tails in order to free themselves or 

 to deceive the pursuer. The tail thus lost may be reproduced. When 

 ■occasion appears to demand the sacrifice, the Glass-snake sunders its tail 

 into a number of wriggling jneces, and while the astonished observer 

 stands viewing the wreck, the head and body hastens to a place of safety. 

 In order that all these pieces might unite again to form a sound lizard, 

 they would have to be fitted together in the proper order, and with the 

 •ends turned in the right direction ; the half dozen or more conical muscu- 

 lar masses which project from the ends of the pieces would have to be in- 

 terdigitated accurately ; the nerves and blood vessels would need to come 

 into juxtaposition ; and then all the torn surfaces unite by " immediate 

 union" so quickly and efiectively that the animal can betake itself to its 

 business. Hard as the possibility of accepting all this is for the natural- 

 ist, such is the popular notion, and a writer in the ScientificAmerican, 

 September 3, 1887, says that he seen the thing done. Before scientific 

 men will believe the assertion it will have to be .well corroborated. 



The specimen of the Glass-snake which was taken in Starke county, 

 Ind., was sent to the editor of the Popular Science Monthly (vol. xxx, 

 p. 122,) for examination. The account of it is mixed up with the name 

 of the Chain-snake, but the reference to the position of the vent shows 

 plainly that it Avas a Glass-snake, as the editor also says it was. 



This animal appears to select for its abode dry, rather than damp, situ- 

 ations. Holbrook states that it often is found in sweet-potato hills in 

 time of harvest. It is entirely harmless, and can be easily tamed. It 

 probably will not bite at all, and could do no injury if it did ; but people 

 who know little about reptiles think that all snakes and lizards, as well 

 as all salamanders, are poisonous. It is said that the Glass-snake ap- 

 pears very early in the spring, even before the true snakes, and remains 

 late in the autumn. About its breeding habits I have been able to learn 

 nothing definite. It probably lays its eggs in the ground. Drs. Cones 

 and Yarrow say that several individuals of this lizard were eaten by a 

 specimen of Ophibolm getulus sayi that was kept in the same cage. 



Family V. TEIID^. 



Lizards with form varying from moderately stout to vermiform. 

 Limbs usually present and well developed ; sometimes rudimentary, and 

 in one genus the hinder limbs are absent. Dentition various. Tongue 

 thin, flat, ending in tw^o long smooth points, and having its upper sur- 

 face covered with overlapping scale-like papillse. Plates of the head 

 large or small. No bony plates underlying the epidermal scales. 



A family comprising 3i> genera and over 100 species ; all living in the 

 :New World. 



