93 THE COMMON SNAKE. 



' Lubrica serpens 



' Exuit in spinis vestem.' Lucrel. 



" It would be a most entertaining sight could a 

 person be an eye-witness to such a feat, and see the 

 snake in the act of changing his garment. As the 

 convexity of the eyes in the slough is now inward.* 

 that circumstance alone is a proof that the skin has 

 been turned ; not to mention that now the present 

 inside is much darker than the outer. If you look 

 through the scales of the snake's eyes from the con- 

 cave side, viz. as the reptile used them, they lessen 

 objects much. — Thus it appears, from what has been 

 said, that snakes crawl out of the mouth of their 

 own sloughs, and quit the tail part last, just as eels 

 are skinned by a cook-maid. — While the scales 

 of the eyes are growing loose, and a new skin is 

 forming, the creature, in appearance, must be blind, 

 and feel itself in a very awkward and uneasy situa- 

 tion*." 



The earliest time of the snakes making their 

 appearance is in the month of March, from which 

 period till the middle of May they are to be found 

 in vast numbers on warm banks, in moist and shady 

 places. From this time, probably on account of 

 the great heat of summer, they are not so often 

 seen. 



Several instances have occurred of the Common 

 Snake being in a great degree domesticated. Mr. 

 White says that he knew a gentleman who had one 



* White's Naturalist's Caler.dai. 



