BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 97 



on their tail, at the approach of a larger animal, erect 

 their head, and inflict the deadly wound in a mo- 

 ment; while some of those who are less so, when 

 closely pursued, or excited by rage or fear, will emit 

 a most horrible foetor, in order, as it were, to force 

 the enemy to retire from the pursuit. 



The Black Snake of Virginia lays its eggs in dung- 

 hills or hotbeds, where, aided by the heat of the sun, 

 they are hatched and brought to maturity. The blind 

 worms betake themselves, at the approach of winter, 

 to those secret recesses, where, in a state of torpidity, 

 they are sometimes found in vast numbers twisted to- 

 gether; and the common earth-worm, when warned 

 of danger from the mole, by the moving of the earth, 

 darts upwards to the surface, and is out of his reach 

 in an instant. 



Uses of Reptiles. 



In a former part we noticed the indispensable ne- 

 cessity of animals of prey, and the bad consequences 

 that must have inevitably ensued had the whole of 

 earth's various tenants been left to die a natural death, 

 and their carcases been left to rot unhuried 



Amongst animals of this descripflR we may un- 

 doubtedly reckon the race of Serpents; and whether 

 we consider the fitness of their bodies for entering 

 the dens, and caves, and holes of the earth, or their 

 voracious appetites for such sort of food in common 

 with reptiles of an inferior order, we must certainly 

 allow that they are wonderfully adapted for the pur- 

 it 



