DOMESTIC LIFE. 143 



feet high, and as much as eight feet in diameter. 

 On the top of this mound, some eight inches 

 from the surface, some twenty to thirty white, 

 hard-shelled eggs are laid, and left to incubate 

 by the heat generated by the decaying vegetable 

 matter. As soon as the young escape from the 

 shell they make their way out of the nest and 

 run to the water without any aid or further care 

 from the parents. During the time that incuba- 

 tion is going on, however, the eggs appear to be 

 jealously guarded ; the mother digging a cave in 

 the river bank, immediately below the nest, and 

 there lies in wait for possible marauders. 



Sea-snakes appear to guard their young for 

 some time after birth, inasmuch as the naturalist 

 Semper once found a large female coiled up 

 among the rocks, and between her folds were 

 at least twenty young, two feet in length. 



That the Common British Viper accompanies 

 its young for some time appears to be very 

 probable, but the very prevalent belief that 

 they take refuge in the mother's throat when 

 threatened by danger, is wholly without founda- 

 tion in fact. 



Among the lizards very little care appears to 

 be taken of the eggs, and of the young none 

 at all. Thus, for example, the Common English 

 Lizard (Lacerta vivipam) retains the eggs, some 

 six to twelve in number, within the body until 

 they are ripe, sometimes even the young escape 

 from the shell before leaving the body of the 

 parent. But once free they are left to their 

 fate. For some days they lie motionless among 

 the leaves or in crevices of the ground, being 



