14 



THE YOUNG NATUKALiST. 



portion only, which answers the purpose, 

 and only looses a little magnifying power. 

 (Other methods were explained for better 

 class instruments.) One other difi&culty 

 was that the objects seen through the 

 microscope were surrounded by coloured 

 lines. This is caused by the different 

 colours which compose what we usually call 

 "white light," being refracted in different 

 degrees in passing through the lens, the 

 blue rays being refracted most and coming 

 to a focus before the red, which is refracted 

 least. This was got over by employing a 

 combination of lenses of different refractive 

 power, such as those made from flint glass, 

 crown glass, &c. 



The construction of the simple microscope, 

 the compound microscope, the binocular, 

 and the different kinds of lenses were then 

 explained, and illustrated by photos from 

 the lantern. 



A CHAT ABOUT THE 

 SLOWWORM. 



By Henry Ullyett, Hon. Sec. to the 

 Folkestone Natural History Society. 



(The following paper is extracted from 

 "The Naturalist's Circular," which was 

 published a few years ago, but died for 

 want of the support it so well deserved. 

 The editor, W. H. Groser, Esq., has kind- 

 ly sent us several numbers with permission 

 to reprint anything we think suitable for 

 our pages. We have pleasure in reprint- 

 ing the following article, and will reprint 

 others in future numbers.) 

 I remember one of my companions telling 

 me that during one of his rambles after 

 wild flowers a slowworm had sprung at him 

 from the bank, and only just missed fixing 

 on his face. As he firmly believed the 

 creature to be of a deadly nature, he regard- 

 ed this as a wonderful escape. We both 

 knew little of natural history then, and 

 accordingly I congratulated him on his 

 being still alive ; indeed, to tell the truth, I 



felt rather envious, and wished that I could • 

 relate such an escape. But this was many '| 

 years ago, and the slowworm is now one of i 

 my many pets. A box of these creatures is 

 certainly a novelty to most people; for i 

 though they may have come across one or 

 two in their occasional rambles, it was only 

 to jump away from them, or to strike at , 

 them with a stick ; whereas before a box i 

 with a glass front they can gratify their : 

 curiosity, and at the same time feel perfectly 

 safe. 



You may dilate on the curious traits of 

 your little proteges to an admiring audience, | 

 and they listen to you with about the same ! 

 feelings as those experienced by the crowd 

 before a cage of tigers, when Mattoko the 

 great tiger-man is giving a lecture on his 

 captives. Will you test the truth of your 

 assertions about the creature's harmlessness 

 by taking one into their hands ? " Ugh ! " 

 (quite involuntary), "no, thank you!" I 

 recollect once taking a few to a natural ' 

 history meeting (where certainly folks ought 

 to have known better), and one happened to 

 get on the floor : it was ludicrous to see 

 how instantaneously the floor was vacated, 

 and every lady at least was standing on a , 

 chair or bench. Poor Anguis fragilis ! he 

 was picked up by a friend and replaced in 

 his box, to his own satisfaction and that of 

 the ladies. 



Slowworms used to be very plentiful in 

 the Quaker's burial-ground in a town where 

 I once lived, and were killed by dozens, 

 when the grass was mown, the man using a; 

 stick about ten feet long, so that he might 

 be out of danger. On lifting up the flat 

 tombstones we often came upon six or seven 

 at once ; and although the creature in a 

 general way deserves its name, it can in 

 times of peril make off pretty briskly, as it 

 attempted to do then; On being seized it 

 twists itself in and out between one's fingers 

 in a manner peculiarly unpleasant to those 

 unaccustomed to it. I took home three or 



