306 CLASS REPTILIA. 



early age. Some have been observed in the moment of 

 danger to receive their family into their oesophagus, and give 

 it back again as soon as the alarm was over. 



The first family, that of Anguis, which we shall call the 

 snakes (though English writers have used this latter term 

 with much greater latitude, and not a little inexactness), 

 are not comprehended among the ophidians by many modern 

 naturalists, but are attached to the last order ; in fact, they 

 properly form a passage from one to the other. Their 

 characters are sufficiently given in the text, nor is it neces- 

 sary for us to dwell in detail on their subgenera and species. 

 We shall content ourselves with speaking of the aQiguisfragilis, 

 (common slow-worm, Sh.), the most common of these animals. 



It generally attains to the length of from eight to ten 

 inches ; sometimes it is eighteen inches long, and according 

 to some naturalists even three feet. It lives on insects, larvae, 

 small mollusca, &c. &c. 



By the aid of its muzzle it excavates holes in the earth, 

 three or four feet in depth, and conduits describing different 

 circuits and having several issues. It conceals itself during 

 rain, for a part of the day and night, especially when 

 threatened by any danger, and during the season of frost. 

 This animal is viviparous, and seems to produce twice 

 a year, in spring and autumn. It does not cast its old skin 

 until towards the middle of the month of July. 



It appears more capable of resisting cold, than the ma- 

 jority of the serpents with which it has been confounded, 

 for it is to be met with in Europe, in very northern latitudes, 

 in Russia, in Sweden, in Poland, in Prussia, and in Ger- 

 many, as commonly as in France and Italy ; but it is never 

 seen in Africa. In the environs of Paris these animals are 

 commonly found under stones, the bark of old trees, in the 

 grass, and under moss. When seized it stiffens itself with 

 such violence, that according to Laurenti and other natu- 



