G4 
NATURAL HISTORY 
or newt, is only tlie larva of the land-eft, as tadpoles are of 
frogs. Lest I should be suspected to misunderstand his 
meaning, I shall give it in his own words. Speaking of the 
opercula, or coverings to the gills, of the mud inguana, he 
proceeds to say that " The form of these pennated coverings 
approaches very near to what I have some time ago observed 
in the larva j or aquatic state, of our English Lacerta, known 
by the name of eft, or newt ; which serve them for coverings 
to their gills, and for fins to swim with while in this state ; 
and which they lose, as well as the fins of their tails, when 
they change their state and become land animals, as I have 
observed, by keeping them alive for some time myself.^' 
Linnseus, in his Systema Naturse, hints at what Mr. Ellis 
advances, more than once. 
Providence has been so indulgent to us as to allow of 
but one venomous reptile of the serpent kind in these 
kingdoms, and that is the viper. As you propose the good 
of mankind to be an object of your publications, you will not 
omit to mention common salad-oil as a sovereign remedy 
against the bite of the viper. ^ 
As to the blind worm {Anguis fragilis, so called because 
it snaps in sunder with a small blow), I have found, on 
examination, that it is perfectly innocuous.^ 
A neighbouring yeoman (to whom I am indebted for 
some good hints) killed and opened a female viper about 
' We agree with Mr. Bell in thinking that the efficacy of oil as a 
remedy against the bite of the viper has probably been overrated. It is 
generally believed in those parts of the country where vipers abound to 
be very efficacious as an external application, as is also the fat of the 
reptile itself. The application of ammonia, however, both externally 
and internally, is recommended on much surer grounds. — Ed. 
2 A blindworm, which Mr. Daniel kept for some weeks in con- 
finement, fed upon the little white slug {Limax agrestis^ Linn.) so 
common in fields and gardens, eating six or seven of them one after the 
other ; but it did not eat every day. It invariably took them in one 
position : elevating its head slowly above its victim, it would sud- 
denly seize the slug by the middle, in the same manner that a ferret or 
dog will generally take a rat by the loins ; it would then hold it thus 
sometimes for more than a minute, when it would pass its prey through 
its iaws, and swallow the slug head foremost. It refused the larger 
slugs, and would not touch either young frogs cr mice. — Ed. 
