54 EGGS OF THE SNAKE. 



the creature betakes itself to some spot where is 

 thick grass, reeds, or similar substances. A rent 

 then opens in the neck, and the snake, by wriggling 

 about among the stems, literally crawls out of its 

 skin, which it leaves behind, turned inside out. 

 Even the covering of the eyes is cast away, and in 

 consequence the snake is partially blind for a day or 

 two previously to the moult, if we may call it so. 



Eggs laid by the snake are also of frequent occur- 

 rence. I have found them in manure heaps, the 

 warmth of which places is attractive to them. The 

 eggs are white, and covered with a strong membrane, 

 but have no shell. They are laid in long strings, 

 from sixteen to twenty eggs being in each chain. 



In the winter the ringed snake retires to a con- 

 venient cell, such as a hollow tree, or a heap of 

 wood, and there it remains in a torpid state until 

 the warm weather. Many individuals have been 

 found collected together in these winter quarters, 

 probably for the sake of affording each other mutual 

 warmth. 



The reptiles of which we have just treated live 

 exclusively on land, though they may occasionally 

 be found in water; but those which we shall now 

 inspect belong rather to the water than to the land. 

 The most common of these amphibious reptiles, as 

 they are called, is the Erog. 



A very curious animal is a frog, and well worth 

 examining, as well in its perfect state as in its inter- 



