112 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



hatched in July or August. It stands captivity well, but it 

 must have variety of food, water to drink, and a retreat to rest 

 and hibernate in. 



(3) The slow-worm or blind-worm Anguis fragilis is a snake- 

 like limbless lizard, not uncommon in some of the wilder parts of 

 Britain. The popular impression that it is blind is erroneous, 

 for the eyes are well developed. Another false impression affirms 

 its poisonousness. It is a shy, timid, harmless animal, and feeds 

 on earthworms and slugs, sometimes also on insects and spiders. 



A large blind-worm may be a foot long, but most specimens 

 are shorter. The tail takes up nearly half the length. The colour 

 is very variable, 

 but it is usually 

 brown above and 

 blackish below. 



. J FIG. 32. The slow-worm Anguis fragths. 



With a metallic This animal differs superficially from a snake 



sheen all Over. m many ways, e.g. in having a long tail and 



Small roundish movable eyelids ' and in not having large 



ventral scales. The smooth metallic ap- 

 SCaleS COVer the pearance of the skin is very characteristic. 



body, and below 



these there are thin bony plates in the dermis or under- 

 skin. There is a very minute ear-hole, almost hidden 

 by scales. The teeth are fang-like and curved back- 

 wards. The front part of the tongue can be drawn 

 back into the thicker posterior part. 



As the specific name, fragilis, suggests, the slow-worm is apt 

 to break in two. When captured it becomes stiff, with strongly 

 contracted muscles, and a slight twist is eno,ugh to break off the 

 tail. This self -mutilation may save the animal's life, and what 

 is lost can be regrown. 



About a dozen young ones are born at a time (in August or 

 September). They burst out of the soft-shelled eggs as soon 

 as these are laid, and emerge like miniatures of the adults abput 

 ij inch long. They double this in about six weeks, but they take 

 four or five years to become full-grown. 



Slow-worms are active during the day, and rest at night under 

 moss or stones or in the ground. In autumn they retreat 

 into winter quarters in some relatively warm dry place, and 



