Ill THE SERVICE OF TAILS 8/ 



it by the head, because the ordinary serpent having 

 once seized a victim never lets go until he has 

 swallowed it. Lastly, there is no observable dif- 

 ference, so far as this point is concerned, between 

 the behavior of those lizards with long brittle tails 

 and those with firm tails or scarcely any tail at all ; 

 and the most brittle one of all, the " glass snake," 

 so called, is a subterranean species that rarely ex- 

 poses either end of its body to capture. 



As to the mice, they do not ordinarily carry their 

 tails in an extended position, but almost invariably 

 keep them curled about their feet, as if they were 

 afraid something might bite them, instead of anx- 

 ious to induce a possible foe to seize them, in order 

 that they might jerk them out of his clutch and 

 laugh at his discomfiture at finding only a mouth- 

 ful of fur instead of a fat morsel in his teeth. No 

 mouse or squirrel is fool enough for that ; and if 

 by accident, the situation is ever created, no pur- 

 suer is fool enough to sit still and curse his luck 

 while the mutilated mouse or squirrel ambles gaily 

 away. Moreover, there are short-tailed mice. With 

 such bushy-tailed quadrupeds as the wolves, jack- 

 als, and foxes, the case is still worse for the argu- 

 ment. The very last thing such an animal does, 

 when in danger, is to straighten out his tail. His 

 first impulse, on the contrary, is to tuck it as far 

 between his hind legs as he can. The very hard- 

 est part for an enemy to seize would be its bushy 

 toil, and the worst ; for instantly the head would 



