}9 



in^s. With the common ^ass snske no great 

 difficulty is found in photographing him. He is 

 quiet and harmless, and may be freely handled and 

 played with, and between his writhings and 

 twistings he does have periods of perfect rest, 

 when, if in a good position, an exposure of two or 

 three seconds, if necessary, may be given. These 

 pretty, harmless creatures do far more good than 

 harm, and I think it is a great pity that they 

 should be so ruthlessly killed on sight by anyone 

 who meets with them, who, no doubt, ignorantly 

 think they are ridding society of a noxious reptile. 

 Our photograph should show the head with the 

 white collar round the neck as plainly as possible, 

 as this is one of its distinguishing features, and 

 also the tail, which tapers off to a fine tip, as this 

 clearly distinguishes it from the more dangerous 

 viper. Notice the head and neck of the snake with 

 the white collar; it has no zigzag markings down 

 the back, and the tail tapers off to a fine tip. 



In the viper we see the head is more arrow- 

 -shaped, the neck thinner and more contracted ; 

 there is no white collar; it is marked very plainly 

 with a broad zigzag mark down the back, and the 

 tail, by comparison, is much shorter and more 

 blunt. These distinctions will enable anyone to tell 

 at a glance the one from the other. 



The other class of reptiles is the lizards. This 

 includes the Common Viviparus lizard, the sand 

 lizard and the slow worm. The common lizard, 

 which is fairly abundant round about on open 

 ■commoDs and in open woods, requires often a good 

 deal of smartness as well as care to catch tbem. 

 As we know, the lizards have a very peculiar 

 habit ; if frightened, or alarmed by being chased, 

 they often snap off or cast their tails, which are 

 said to wriggle on the ground while their late 

 owners make good their escape. The proper way 

 to catch or take up a lizard is. not to pounce down 

 on it with the naked hand, but either to wear a 

 soft glove or to hold a handkerchief in the hand. 

 In photographing lizards, the same kind of box 

 and accessorieft may be nsed as when photograph- 

 ing mice, and being quite as restless as these 

 animals, the same care and patience will be re- 

 quired. But these often rest for a second or two 

 together, and if we wait until they take up a good 

 position, when the feet and tail are shown and the 

 haad properly seen, it is quite possible to use a 

 smaller stop and give a short time exposure. The 

 sand lizard 1 nave not yet met with — it is much 

 .sca'*cer thin the others. 



The slow worm is easily found on most gorse- 

 covered commons, and is one of the prettiest and 

 most timid little creatnres it is possible to come 

 across. Its excessive timidity and nervousness 

 cause it too often to cast; its tail like the other 

 lizards when pursued, bo that great care must be 

 taken to handUe it gently when caught. Although 

 one of the lizards, it is in appearance a snake of a 

 beautiful bronze colour, and as harmless as can 

 possibly be imagined. I used to take this one 

 (shown in the lecturer's bands) two or three times 

 a day and play with it, so as to get it accustomed 

 to being handled. This makes them much tamer 

 and con3e':iuently easier to photograph. 



In producing pictures of almost any Natural 

 History object, there is almost always one difficulty 



present, and that is in the absence of anything to 

 give scale, or by comparison to indicate theaccu*! 

 size of the object itself. In this case, photo- 

 graphing it in the hand seems rather to dwarf the 

 actual size of the creature, while the first photo- 

 graph, giving no indication of the actual size, 

 might lead anyone to suppose it to be anything 

 from two to six feet long. The actual size was 

 about fourteen inches long, which is about the 

 normal length, while the thickness is about that 

 of an average man's little finger. The name blind 

 worm, by which it is often called, is quite a mis- 

 nomer, as it has bright and pretty eyes. 



To come to the amphibians. We have the 

 common frog, the common toad, and the scarcer 

 natterjack toad. I think the frogs must be the 

 most interesting animals we have, considering the 

 wonderful metamorphosis through which they 

 pass. As we know, at the breeding season the 

 frogs and toada take to the water and there lay 

 their eggs, which in due course hatch and pro- 

 duce the familiar tadpoles, which gradually change 

 in form and habits, from the fish-like gill-breath- 

 ing creatures to the lung breathing terrestial 

 animals, the form of which we know bo well. 

 This is the most interesting branch of study I 

 have met with, and during the past two seasons 

 I have tried to get a series of photographs show- 

 ing the changes through which these animals 

 pass from egg to maturity. I am sorry my series 

 is not yet complete enough or good enough to 

 show. There are many difficulties in photograph- 

 ing moving objects in water, which I have only 

 yet partly overcome, and which I cannot here 

 stop to describe, but I must say that this is a 

 branch of work most interesting to photographers, 

 as well as instructive to watch, which anyone can 

 do by obtaining a few of the eggs, and keeping 

 them at home in some sort of an aquarium, where 

 the changes from day to day may be easily seen. 



The toad's habits and early life are very similar 

 to the frog's, the only perceptible difference being 

 in the eggs — the eggs of the frog appearing in the 

 clustered jelly-like masses so well known, while 

 the toad's are laid in long double strings, which 

 appear on the water very much like thick worsted. 

 Toads and frogs are fairly easy to photograph out 

 of the water, which is best done comfortably and 

 leisurely at home in our useful box arrangement, 

 first giving them time to settle down to their new 

 surroundings, after which the glass front may be 

 dispensed with and the sitter leisurely and com- 

 fortably arranged in the desired positions. Photo- 

 graphs of the toad should show the webbing of the 

 feet and also suggest bis crawling method of pro- 

 gression, the frog's movements being made by 

 hops. It is neither of these that supply the 

 dainty dish so much appreciated on the Continent ; 

 it is quite a distinct species and rather different 

 in appearance, one known as the edible frog being 

 bred and kept for the purpose, so we need not fear 

 our frog becoming extinct through the appetites 

 of the people. 



Our second group of amphibians are the saurians 

 or newts, of which again we have three species — 

 the Great Newt, the Smooth Newt, andthe Palmate 

 Newt (this latter species again being rare, while 

 the others are equally common). These are most 



