102 A MATURE WOOING. 



ground lizard may be seen by thousands in the thick 

 forests of the southern states. They emerge from 

 their retreats after sunset, in search of small insects 

 and worms, on which they live; yet their motions are 

 so quick and they disappear so rapidly, that they 

 might at first be easily mistaken for crickets or other 

 insects. Though so numerous, it is difficult to secure 

 them alive ; for when approached they conceal them- 

 selves with astonishing quickness under the roots of 

 the old and decaying trees, or beneath fallen leaves, 

 or other vegetable substances. This decaying vege- 

 table matter sometimes forms a stratum several inches 

 thick, containing numerous holes and crevices, to 

 which they can easily retreat. We have never ob- 

 served it ascend trees in its attempts to escape when 

 pursued."* 



March 26, 1899. The early morning was damp 

 and misty. About nine o'clock the sun beamed forth 

 and, aided by a strong breeze, dispelled the fog. I 

 made my way westward toward the old chimneys. 

 Near the railway I saw the body of a wild cat, Lynx 

 rufus Guld., which had evidently been killed last 

 night by a train. This mammal is said to be still fre- 

 quent in the hammocks and denser forests, but seldom 

 approaches so closely to the town. Its range appears 

 to be the whole of North America. 



Beneath a chunk in the sandy roadway were a 

 dozen or more gigantic millipedes of the genus Spir- 



*N. Am. Herp., 1, 1836, p. 72. 



