238 BRITISH REPTILES 



and I have found numbers of the old skins in the 

 fields surrounding Whitstable, in Kent, a fine 

 hunting-ground for this reptile and the Grass 

 Snake. 



The Slow Worm is a viviparous creature, pro- 

 ducing its ten or twelve young in July. 



On occasions, perhaps, the Slow Worm does 

 not belie its name, and will lie motionless in a 

 path. If thus seen and captured, the observer 

 will have ocular demonstration of the creature's 

 relationship to the Lizards, for it sometimes — 

 though not invariably — happens that when the 

 creature is handled by the tail a portion of that 

 appendage will be snapped off in the characteristic 

 manner carried out by many of the Lizards. 

 This is, of course, resorted to as a means of escape. 



On sandy commons one may hunt with certainty 

 for the Common Lizard, a harmless, bright, merry 

 little fellow which bodes harm to no man. I was 

 keenly interested in watching a number of these 

 Lizards on a large Sussex common not long since. 

 Unless one is possessed of a certain amount of 

 patience — a necessary trait in Natural History 

 study — it is difficult to get a good sight of these 

 remarkably active little reptiles. They scuttle 

 through the herbage adroitly, and often quite 

 noiselessly, but it is worth while spending some 

 little time on the chance of observing one on an 

 open patch, or, better still, to light upon a speci- 



