THE GLASS SNAKE. 219 



or brown colour, with six narrow yellow streaks along its 

 body, one of which on each side reaches from the eye to the 

 middle of the tail. The lower part is of a silvery white hue, 

 with a bluish tinge in some parts. 



It is an excessively lively, active animal, living in dry and 

 sandy places, where it may be .found searching for insects. 

 As it is very timid, it takes to flight at the slightest sound, 

 and is not easily caught. 



THE GLASS SNAKE. 



As the spring comes on, and the warm sun bursts forth, a 

 formidable snake-like creature, nearly three feet in length, is 

 often seen frequenting the plantations of the sweet potato, or 

 coiled up beneath the roots of an old tree ; its keen eye 

 watching for any small reptile or insect which may be passing. 

 The head is small in proportion to the body, and of a pyramidal 

 form mottled at the sides with black and green, the jaws 

 edged with yellow. Its abdomen is bright yellow ; and the 

 upper part of the ear is marked with numerous lines of black, 

 green, and yellow. 



Altogether, it has a very venomous look about it ; but is 

 truly one of the most harmless of creatures, not being a snake 

 at all, though it goes by the name of the glass snake. It is 

 in reality a lizard ; though not having the vestige of limbs 

 it is appropriately called the lizard-snake. It has, however, 

 eyelids ; and the tongue is not sheathed at the base, as is the 

 case with serpents ; while its solid jaw-bones do not enable it 

 to open its mouth, as they are capable of doing. It has a 

 tail twice the length of its body, from which it can with diffi- 

 culty be distinguished. 



Its peculiar characteristic is its extraordinary fragility,- - 



