THREE COMMON REPTILES 



the blindworm no sting, but it cannot bite 

 anything bigger than a very small grub or 

 insect. Besides which it is, as I have already 

 mentioned, not a snake at all. It is really a 

 lizard. A legless lizard, it is true, but still a 

 lizard. Once upon a time in the long-gone-by 

 ages it must have had limbs like most other 

 lizards still have, for when its skeleton is 

 examined the rudiments of legs can be found ; 

 however, these do not show externally, and to 

 the outward glance it is quite snake-like. 

 Perhaps legs were in the way when it was 

 wriggling and gliding through the under- 

 growth; probably those blindworms with the 

 smallest limbs were able to slip out of the way 

 when danger threatened quicker than the rest, 

 and in this way those whose legs were the least 

 would time after time live and prosper, until 

 during the long ages blindworms arose with 

 no legs at all, which, being the best adapted for 

 gliding in and out between thick-growing plants, 

 would survive in greater numbers than those 

 that still had limbs, so that soon the latter 

 would disappear, and leave the legless ones 

 to represent their kind. 



Like real snakes, the blindworm moves along 

 by means of the scales or plates that are 



Q 241 



