SNAKE. BLIND WORM. . AMPHISB^NA. 241 



THE SNAKE. 



This is the largest of British serpents, sometimes ex- 

 ceeding four feet in length. The neck is slender; the 

 body swells in the middle ; the back and sides are covered 

 with small scales, and the belly with oblong, narrow, 

 transverse plates. The colour of the back and sides is 

 dusky or brown ; along the middle of the back run two 

 rows of small black spots, reaching from the head to the 

 tail, and from them proceed numerous lines or spots cross- 

 ing the sides. The plates on the belly are dusky ; those 

 on the sides of a bluish white. On each side of the neck 

 is a spot of pale yellow, at the base of which is a trian- 

 gular black spot. 



This creature is perfectly harmless. It feeds on frogs, 

 insects, worms, and mice ; and lodges among bushes in 

 moist situations. It deposits its eggs in dunghills ; the heat 

 of which, aided by that of the sun, promotes the exclu- 

 sion of the young. During winter, the snake, like the 

 rest of its kind, continues torpid in the banks of hedges, 

 and under old trees. 



THE SLOW, OR BLIND WORM. 



This is the smallest of all the serpent kind, indigenous 

 in Britain. Its tail extends a considerable length, yet is 

 blunted and pretty thick at the extremity. The back is 

 cinereous, marked with small lines, composed of minute 

 black specks. The sides are reddish ; and the belly is 

 dusky, but marked like the back. The tongue is broad 

 and forky, the teeth are numerous but minute, and the 

 scales are small. These creatures are slow in their 

 motions, and perfectly harmless. They lie torpid during 

 the winter; and numbers of them have been sometimes 

 found at that season twisted together. 



THE AMPHISBJENA. 



This reptile is remarkable for moving backwards or for- 

 * wards with equal facility ; and hence it has been thought 



M 



