THE TWO-HEADED SNAKE. 263 



uniform thickness of both extremities, and its power 

 of moving backward or forward with equal facility, 

 they designate as the Two-headed Snake. Natu- 

 ralists distinguish it as the Typhlops himhricalis, 

 the former term alluding to its apparent want of 

 eyes, the latter intended to mark its resemblance, a 

 rather slight one, to an earthworm. 



It is a pretty little animal, and perfectly harmless, 

 though, with the common prejudice against serpenti- 

 form reptiles, viewed with dread by the uneducated. 

 It reaches to about thirteen inches in length, with 

 an average thickness of one-fourth of an inch, the 

 fore parts, however, being rather more slender than 

 the middle of the body. The whole form is slightly 

 depressed, the head especially ; the head is length- 

 ened and covered with plates ; the tail is one-third 

 of an inch long, terminating in a very minute horny 

 nipple, on a shining round plate. When we hold 

 the living animal in the hand, this terminal point of 

 the tail is pressed with some force against the fingers, 

 as if it were a weapon of offence ; a slight pricking 

 is produced, but it cannot pierce the human skin. 

 The colour of the upper parts is a chaste bluish grey, 

 that of the belly yellowish white ; the two colours 

 abruptly divided, not, however, by a straight line, 

 but by one of that form which in heraldry is techni- 

 cally called embattled, but somewhat irregular. The 

 whole surface is beautifully even and polished while 

 alive, but after having been kept awhile in spirits, 

 the edges of the minute scales become raised, and this 

 smoothness is quite lost, the surface being rough 

 both to the eye and the touch. The colours also 



