THE SLOW- WORM. 211 



general and deep-rooted prejudice attached to the ser- 

 pent race. The viper and the snake, though they ex- 

 perience no rnercy, escape often by activity of action ; 

 but this creature, from the slowness of his movements, 

 falls a more frequent victim. We call it a ' blind worm,' 

 possibly from the supposition that as it makes little 

 effort to escape, it sees badly ; but its eyes, though 

 rather small, are clear and lively, with no apparent de- 

 fect of vision. The natural habits of the slow-worm are 

 obscure ; but living in the deepest foliage, and the 

 roughest banks, he is generally secreted from observa- 

 tion ; and loving warmth, like all his race, he creeps 

 half torpid from his hole, to bask in spring-time in the 

 rays of the sun, and is, if seen, inevitably destroyed. 

 Exquisitely formed as all these gliding creatures are, 

 for rapid and uninterrupted transit through herbage and 

 such impediments, it is yet impossible to examine a 

 slow-worm without admiration at the peculiar neatness 

 and fineness of the scales with which it is covered. 

 All separate as they are, yet they lap over, and close 

 upon each other with such exquisite exactitude, as to 

 appear only as faint markings upon the skin, requiring 

 a magnifier to ascertain their separations ; and, to give 

 him additional facility of proceeding through rough 

 places, these are all highly polished, appearing lustrous in 

 the sun, the animal looking like a thick piece of tarnish- 

 ed copper wire. When surprised in his transit from the 

 hedge, contrary to the custom of the snake or viper, 

 which writhe themselves away into the grass in the 

 ditch, he stops, as if fearful of proceeding, or to escape 

 observation by remaining motionless, but if touched 

 he makes some effort to escape : this habit of the poor 

 slow-worm becomes frequently the cause of his de- 

 struction. 



Of all the active, vigilant creatures that animate our 

 paths, we have none superior to the little, bee-like 

 bombylius (bombylius medius) ; but this creature is to 

 be seen only in the mornings of a few bright days in 

 spring, seeming to delight in the hot, windy gleams of 

 that season, presenting an emblem of that portion of 

 our year, fugitive and violent. It is, I believe, plentiful 





