{e* 
THE BLINDWORM. 425 
with the means of attracting their prey within reach, as is the case with some 
well-known fishes, or chase it by the senses of hearing and touch, as is done 
by the mole. Moreover, the chief food of the Blindworm consists of slugs, 
which glide so noiselessly that the creature needs the use of its eyes to detect 
the soft mollusc as it slides over the ground on it slimy course. Speed is not 
needful for such a chase, and the Blindworm accordingly is slow and delibe- 
rate in all its movements, except when very young, when it twists and wriggles 
about in a singular fashion as often as it is touched. 
The great fragility of the Blindworm is well known. By a rather curious 
structure of the muscles and bones of the spine, the reptile is able to stiffen 
itself to such a degree, that on a slight pressure or trifling blow, or even by the 
voluntary contraction of the body, the tail is snapped away from the body, 
and, on account of its proportionate length, looks just as if the creature had 
been broken in half. The object of this curious property seems to be to 
ensure the safety of the animal. The severed tail retains, or rather acquires, 
an extraordinary amount of irritability, and for several minutes after its 
amputation leaps and twists about with such violence that the attention of 
the foe is drawn to its singular vagaries, and the Blindworm itself creeps 
quietly away to some place of shelter. 
When the tail of the Blindworm is thus snapped off, the scales of the body 
project all round the fractured portion, forming a kind of hollow into which 
the broken end of the tail can be slipped. 
According to popular notions, the Blindworm is a terribly poisonous 
creature, and by many persons is thought to be even more venomous than 
the viper, whereas it is perfectly harmless, having neither the will nor the 
ability to bite, its temper being as quiet as its movements, and its teeth as 
innocuous as its jaws are weak. .I fancy that the origin of this opinion may 
be found in the habit of constantly thrusting out its broad, black, flat tongue 
with its slightly forked tip ; for the popular mind considers the tongue to be 
the sting, imagining it to be both the source of the venom and the weapon 
by which it is injected into the body, and so logically classes all creatures 
with forked tongues under the common denomination of poisonous animals. 
It is said that chis reptile will bite when handled, but that its minute teeth 
and feeble jaws can make no impression upon the skin ; and also that when 
it has thus fastened on the hand of its captor, it will not release its hold 
unless its jaws be forced open. For my own part, and I have handled very 
many of these reptiles, I never knew them atrempt to bite, or even to assume 
a threatening attitude. They will suddenly curl themselves up tightly, and 
snap off their tails, but to use their jaws in self-defence is an idea that seldom 
appears to occur to them. 
The specimen whose portrait is given in the illustration was in my posses- 
sion for a considerable time, and was fed on the white garden slug. 
In its wild state the Blindworm feeds mostly on slugs, but will also eat 
worms and various insects. Some persons assert that it devours mice and 
reptiles ; but that it should do so is a physical impossibility, owing to the very 
small dimensions of the mouth and the structure of the jaw, the bones of 
which are firmly knitted together, and cannot be separated while the prey is 
being swallowed, as is the case with the snakes. 
In captivity it seems to reject almost any food except slugs, but these 
molluscs it will eat quite freely. : 
The Blindworm generally retires to its winter quarters towards the end 
of August, or even sooner, should the weather be chilly. The localities which 
it chooses for this purpose are generally dry and warm spots, where the 
dried leaves and dead twigs of decayed branches have congregated into 
heaps, so as to afford it a safe refuge. Sometimes it bores its way into 
