THE LIZARDS 161 



round and polished scales. This species is not nearly 

 so stiff and ungraceful in its movements as the glass 

 "snakes"; the body is decidedly supple and suggestive 

 of a serpent. In crawling it seemingly fits the uneven 

 surface of the ground in that easy gliding fashion 

 attending the motions of a true snake. 



For this lizard the popular name is altogether inap- 

 propriate. The animal has keen, highly-developed eyes ; 

 and it is too large and prettily colored to be character- 

 ized as "worm-like." Adult specimens are often a uni- 

 form, metallic bronze, sometimes greenish bronze with 

 a dark band on the back; on a few specimens there are 

 scattered blue spots, a character distinct enough, accord- 

 ing to some authorities, to warrant a varietal name — 

 colchica. 



Most interesting about the "Blind Worm" is the habit 

 of producing living young. The young are born in 

 August and September and are delicately pretty, being 

 luminous silvery -white above with a jet black stripe on 

 the back ; beneath they are uniform black. The number 

 in a brood ranges from a dozen to eighteen. A four- 

 teen-inch female in the Reptile House of the New York 

 Zoological Park gave birth to sixteen young; the babies 

 were three inches long. The latter fed upon termites — 

 soft-bodied, ant-like insects to be found commonly in 

 rotting logs. On this food they continued to thrive, yet 

 their growth was so slow it appears several years would 

 be required to reach maturity. Adult Blind Worms 

 feed upon earthworms, slugs and the grubs of insects. 

 The captives will eat raw beef mixed with beaten eggs ; 

 they exhibit a great liking for this diet. The food is 

 masticated to some extent, a process utterly out of keep- 

 ing with the reptile's snake-like appearance. Kept in a 

 vivarium, the Blind Worm often burrows deeply in the 



