208 EGGS OF THE SNAKE. 



played was very different from that which they exhibit 

 in the warm summer months. Instead of the permanent 

 green glow that illumines all the blades of the sur- 

 rounding herbage, it was a pale transient spot, visible 

 for a moment or two, and then so speedily hidden that 

 we were obliged, in order to capture the creature, lo 

 employ the light of a candle. The number of them, 

 and their actions, creeping away from our sight, con- 

 trary to that half-lifeless dullness observed in summer, 

 suggested the idea that the whole body had availed 

 themselves of this warm, moist evening, to migrate to 

 their winter station. A single spark or so was to be 

 seen some evenings after this, but no such large moving 

 parties were discovered again. If we conclude, that 

 the summer light of the glow-worm is displayed as a 

 signal taper, the appearance of this autumnal light can 

 have no such object in view, nor can we rationally as- 

 sign any use of it to the creature itself, unless, indeed, 

 it serves as a point of union in these supposed migra- 

 tions, like the leading call in the flight of night-moving 

 birds. The activity and numbers of these insects, in 

 the above-mentioned evening, enabled me to observe 

 the frequent presence and disappearance of the light 

 of an individual, which did not seem to be the result 

 of will, but produced by situation. During the time 

 the insect crawled along the ground, or upon the fine 

 grass, the glow was hidden ; but on its mounting any 

 little blade, or sprig of rnoss, it turned round and pre- 

 sented the luminous caudal spot, which, on its falling 

 or regaining its level, was hidden again. 



My laborer this day, July the 18th, in turning over 

 some manure, laid open a mass of snake's eggs (coluber 

 natrix), fifteen only, and they must have been recently 

 deposited, the manure having very lately been placed 

 where they were found. They were larger than the 

 eggs of a sparrow, obtuse at each end, of a very palo 

 yellow color, feeling tough and soft like little bags of 

 some gelatinous substance. The interior part consisted 

 of a glareous matter like that of the hen, enveloping 

 the young snake, imperfect, yet the eyes and form suffi- 

 ciently defined. Snakes must protrude their eggs singly, 



