318 Reptiles, 



And in the words which Queen Margaret addresses to Richard. 



« But thou 



Mark'd by the destinies to be avoided, 



As venom'd toads, or lizards' dreadful stings." 



^rd part K. Henry VI. Act ii. Scene ii. 



When a creature so harmless has been pourtrayed in aspects so re- 

 pulsive, we may well exclaim, " O thou monster Ignorance, how de- 

 formed dost thou look ! " 



I now pass on to another reptile, equally inoffensive and not less 

 maligned, the blind-worm or slow-worm of Britain, described as " the 

 eyeless venom'd worai " by Shakspeare. In Ireland it is unknown, 

 but in Scotland I have seen it broken in two by the blow of a slight 

 rod, thus illustrating the correctness of the Linnaean appellation, — 

 Anguisfragilis. The " blind worm's sting" is enumerated among the 

 materials employed by the witches " for a charm of powerful trouble," 

 yet it has in fact no poison fangs, and is naturally of so timid and 

 gentle a disposition, that only under circumstances of great provo- 

 cation will it attempt to bite. 



It is obvious, therefore, that in giving utterance to the erroneous 

 ideas of his own times respecting the blind-worm, Shakspeare has 

 inadvertently been instrumental in " filching from it its good name." 

 Perhaps he has afforded some compensation for the wrong by intro- 

 ducing it — though still as a forbidden thing — into the charmed lullaby 

 which the fairy, in the Midsummer Night's Dream, sings at the behest 

 of Titania. 



" You spotted snakes, with double tongue. 



Thorny hedge-hogs be not seen ; 



Newts and blind-worms do no wrong, 



Come not near our fairy queen." 



To the systematic naturalist this creature becomes interesting, from 

 considerations of a different kind. The body is destitute of legs, in 

 that respect resembling the true serpents, while at the same time the 

 jaws and cranium are consolidated, thus resembling those of the li- 

 zards. Both the saurian and the ophidian reptiles might therefore 

 claim its allegiance, and it would seem to owe " here a divided duty." 

 But all difficulties vanish if we regard it not as tributary to either, 

 but as a member of a connecting group, for which Mr. Gray has pro- 

 posed the expressive appellation of Saurophidia. 



Of the true serpents {Ophidia), we have had no representative in 

 Ireland since that memorable traditionary epoch when St. Patrick 



