REPTILES. 193 



occupy if they were present. The presence of movable 

 eyelids, the solid lower jaw, the notched (not forked), 

 tongue, and other anatomical characters, all indicate 

 that the animal is a lizard and not a snake. It gets its 

 specific title of fragilis from the habit of breaking off its 

 tail when alarmed, a habit common to the lizard tribe, 

 but, as far as the writer has observed, this habit is much 

 less marked than in the other lizards, and he believes that 

 the Blind-worm never does this unless startled or seized 

 very suddenly. The creature lives mostly in crevices in 

 the ground, and along hedge -banks, and, like other 

 reptiles, emerges from its retreat when the weather is 

 warm, to bask in the sun. It is then so supremely 

 happy that it becomes oblivious of all else but the 

 pleasant warmth, and can be caught easily by anyone 

 who approaches it quietly. If it is desired to secure it 

 without the loss of its tail, it is best to slip a butterfly- 

 net over it not loo suddenly. When handled it will bite 

 savagely at the fingers, but is utterly powerless to inflict 

 harm, its teeth being too minute to penetrate the skin, 

 and of course it has no poison-fangs. It feeds chiefly 

 upon snails and worms, poising its head in the air pre- 

 paratory to pouncing on them and seizing them in its 

 jaws. When hungry the Blind-worm keeps licking the 

 outside of its lips with the notched tongue, and this, to 

 the rustic mind, is evidence of its possessing a venomous 

 sting ! As in the allied reptiles, the skin or slough is 

 cast entire, periodically. The Blind-worm is plentiful 

 throughout Shropshire, in such situations as are suited 

 to its habits, and this too in spite of the numbers killed 

 every year by the mis-directed zeal of ignorant persons. 

 It is like the Common Lizard ovo-viviparous, pro- 



