A LIZARD WITH 



SERPENTINE 



FORM 



R. W. Shufeldt, C.M.Z.S. 

 Washington, D. C. 



( I'hotograph by the author; from life) 



What (lid Ophisaunis ventralis gain 

 in assuming the serpentine form? 

 Opliisanrus ventralis is the scientific 

 name for the common "Glass Snake" — 

 a Hzanl with serpentine form, and 

 perfectly devoid of the slightest sem- 

 blance of any external limbs. It 

 ranges over the eastern part of the 

 United States, from North Carolina 

 westward to Wisconsin, and from 

 thence soutliward into Mexico. Speci- 

 mens ha\'e been taken having a length 

 of nearly forty inches; but that is 

 very unusual. As a rule, we rarely 

 meet with one measuring over twenty- 

 eight inches. As to the general ap- 

 pearance of this perfectly harmless 

 saurian, it is well portrayed in the 

 accompanying cut, which is a reproduc- 

 tion of a photograph of a medium sized 

 specimen sent me alive from Florida, 

 where the form is very abundant. 



Many know this lizard by the name 

 of "Glass Snake," for it can voluntarily 

 part with its tail, which may come 

 away in one, two, or three pieces, but 

 not in teti to a dozen, as vouched for by 

 the zoological mythmongers. The tail 

 will grow out anew, but always shorter, 

 and with a somewhat different a|)pear- 

 ance. Its vertebra} are cartilagenous. 

 In contradistinction to the snakes, 

 Ophisaunis possesses both well devel- 

 oped ear-openings and eyelids. In 

 nature it loves to burrow below the 

 surface of the ground, especially in 

 somewhat marshy .soil. Here it finds 

 earth worms, insect larva\ and the 

 other forms it lives upon, while above 

 ground it will eat the eggs of small 

 birds, grasshoppers, spiders, and the 

 like. Our king snake is its greatest 

 enem\-, for that reptile captures and 

 consumes many of them in the coiu-se 



286 



