242 THE ROLL OF THE SEASONS 



efficient seven-inch serpents with all the false menace 

 and more than all the grace and beauty of their 

 parents. The farmer has only to turn over his mixen 

 one day this month to destroy all this generation of 

 " varmints." But with all the will to do so, the 

 golden days slip by one by one, and the risky 

 expedient of the old snakes succeeds. The hundreds 

 of small snakes escape from the leathery egg-shells, 

 and no one sees even a tail of all the serpentine 

 vitality with which the dung-heap teems. Just as 

 certainly do the warble-maggots slip from under 

 the very thumb of the farmer on the backs of 

 his cattle, to destroy more hides and drive frantic 

 more heifers and bullocks next year. That is to say, 

 one in every ten of them will survive frost and rain 

 on the bare ground, in order to produce ten warbles 

 next year. 



