INSECTS AND VERMES. 283 



had entangled himself intricately in the 

 grass and weeds, so that the friction of 

 the stalks and blades might promote this 

 curious shifting of his exuviaB. 



" Lubrica serpens 



" Exuit in spinis vestem." Lucret. 



It would be a most entertaining sight 

 could a person be an eye-witness to such 

 a feat, and see the snake in the act of 

 changing his garment. As the convexity 

 of the scales of the eyes in the slough is 

 now inward, that circumstance alone is a 

 proof that the skin has been turned : not 

 to mention that now the present inside is 

 much darker than the outer. If you look 

 through the scales of the snake's eyes from 

 the concave side, viz. as the reptile used 

 them, they lessen objects much. Thus it 

 appears from what has been said, that snakes 

 crawl out of the mouth of their own 

 sloughs, and quit the tail part last, just as 

 eels are skinned by a cook maid. While the 

 scales of the eyes are growing loose, and 

 a new skin is forming, the creature, in ap- 



