310 THE SLOWWORM. 



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 mark- 

 ings upon the skin, requiring a magnifier to ascer- 

 tain 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 tar- 

 nished 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 pro- 

 ceeding, or to escape observation by remaining 

 motionless, but if touched he makes some effort to 

 escape : this habit of the poor slowworm becomes 

 frequently the cause of his destruction. 



Of all the active, vigilant creatures that animate 

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

 like bombylius (bombylius medius) ; but this crea- 

 ture 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 nowhere. Parti- 

 cularly solicitous of warmth, it seeks the dry, sunny 



