64 NATURAL HISTORY 



or newt, is only the larva of the land-eft, as tadpoles are of 

 frogs. Lest I should be suspected to misunderstand his 

 meaning, I shall give it in his own words. Speaking of the 

 opercula, or coverings to the gills, of the mud inguana, he 

 proceeds to say that ' ' The form of these pennated coverings 

 approaches very near to what I have some time ago observed 

 in the larva, or aquatic state, of our English Lacerta, known 

 by the name of eft, or newt ; which serve them for coverings 

 to their gills, and for fins to swim with while in this state ; 

 and which they lose, as well as the fins of their tails, when 

 they change their state and become land animals, as I have 

 observed, by keeping them alive for some time myself/' 



Linnaeus, in his Systerna Naturae, hints at what Mr. Ellis 

 advances, more than once. 



Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow of 

 but one venomous reptile of the serpent kind in these 

 kingdoms, and that is the viper. As you propose the good 

 of mankind to be an object of your publications, you will not 

 omit to mention common salad-oil as a sovereign remedy 

 against the bite of the viper. 1 



As to the blind worm (Anguis fragilis, so called because 

 it snaps in sunder with a small blow), I have found, on 

 examination, that it is perfectly innocuous. 2 



A neighbouring yeoman (to whom I am indebted for 

 some good hints) killed and opened a female viper about 



1 We agree with Mr. Bell in thinking that the efficacy of oil as a 

 remedy against the bite of the viper has probably been overrated. It is 

 generally believed in those parts of the country where vipers abound to 

 be very efficacious as an external application, as is also the fat of the 

 reptile itself. The application of ammonia, however, both externally 

 and internally, is recommended on much surer grounds. ED. 



2 A blindworm, which Mr. Daniel kept for some weeks in con- 

 finement, fed upon the little white slug (Limax agrestis, Linn.) so 

 common in fields and gardens, eating six or seven of them one after the 

 other ; but it did not eat every day. It invariably took them in one 

 position : elevating its head slowly above its victim, it would sud- 

 denly seize the slug by the middle, in the same manner that a ferret or 

 dog will generally take a rat by the loins ; it would then hold it thus 

 sometimes for more than a minute, when it would pass its prey through 

 its jaws, and swallow the slu<r head foremost. It refused the larger 

 slugs, and would not touch either young frogs or mice. ED. 



