32 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



a second occurs in June or July, and often a third 

 in late summer or early autumn. One can always 

 tell when the moulting is about to take place by the 

 color of the snake becoming very dull and an ap- 

 parent whitish film appearing over the eyes In fact 

 the snake seems to be going blind. The skin is shed 

 as a whole, a rent appearing on the back, and first 

 one end of the body and then the other being pulled 

 out of the old garment. Even the cornea, or outer 

 surface of the eye, and the skin of the lips are shed. 

 The new skin is very bright and showy and the snake 

 is evidently proud of it, appearing much more lively 

 after moulting than before. New skins are con- 

 stantly being formed beneath old ones and the reptile 

 must keep one or two on hands for an emergency, as 

 the writer has by dissection found three skins on one 

 snake. 



Many persons are needlessly frightened when a snake 

 darts out its tongue at them. The tongue is nothing 

 but a thread-like muscle forked or divided for about 

 one-third of its length. It lies on the middle of the 

 lower jaw and when at rest is covered with a sheath- 

 like membrane. Soft and elastic in structure, it is 

 capable of being darted back and forth very rapidly. 

 Although the tongue is perfectly harmless the snake, 

 during past generations, seems to have learned that 

 man and some other animals are afraid of it, and so, 

 when irritated or molested, darts it in and out as a 

 means of defense. 



Snakes have no outer ears and no eyelids. To the 

 latter fact is due the "cold stony glare of the serpent " 

 Their jaw bones or mandibles are held together only 



