EEPTILES AND SNAKE-STONES. 11 



in a state of repose, retiring to holes, clefts, or 

 other available places, apparently secure from 

 disturbance, either in company or singly, for a 

 quiet six months' ' nap/ During this period 

 no food is taken, growth is impeded, the circu- 

 lation is tardy, respiration is low, and the 

 semblance of death is almost complete. In the 

 spring the warm sun quickens their blood, 

 awakens them from their dreams, and again 

 they crawl or leap into active existence, to the 

 terror of ' unprotected females ' and the insect 

 life on which they prey. 



The curious habit they have of changing their 

 habits, or casting off the outer cuticle of their 

 skins periodically and then devouring them, 

 offers an economical suggestion to those who 

 advocate ' the utilization of waste substances/ 

 in respect to cast-off clothes. Indeed, we are 

 not altogether innocent of devouring our old 

 clothing, but with this difference between our- 

 selves and the reptiles, they appropriate them 

 immediately and in their unchanged condition, 

 ours suffer mutilation, and manifold intermediate 

 changes, before they enter our mouths. 



Although Reptiles are neither sufficiently nu- 

 merous nor venomous in our temperate climes 

 to give 'the traveller serious alarm, such is far 

 from being the case in tropical countries. There 

 we consequently hear of snake remedies, snake 



