208 
EGGS OF THE SNAKE. 
played was very different from that which they exhibit 
in the warm summer months. Instead of the permanent 
green glow that illumines all the blades of the sur- 
rounding herbage, it was a pale transient spot, visible 
for a moment or two, and then so speedily hidden that 
we were obliged, in order to capture the creature, to 
employ the light of a candle. The number of them, 
and their actions, creeping away from our sight, con- 
trary to that half-lifeless dullness observed in summer, 
suggested the idea that the whole body had availed 
themselves of this warm, moist evening, to migrate to 
their winter station. A single spark or so was to be 
seen some evenings after this, but no such large moving 
parties were discovered again. If we conclude, that 
the summer light of the glow-worm is displayed as a 
signal taper, the appearance of this autumnal light can 
have no such object in view, nor can we rationally as- 
sign any use of it to the creature itself, unless, indeed, 
it serves as a point of union in these supposed migra- 
tions, like the leading call in the flight of night-moving 
birds. The activity and numbers of these insects, in 
the above-mentioned evening, enabled me to observe 
the frequent presence and disappearance of the light 
of an individual, which did not seem to be the result 
of will, but produced by situation. During the time 
the insect crawled along the ground, or upon the fine 
grass, the glow was hidden; but on its mounting any 
little blade, or sprig of moss, it turned round and pre- 
sented the luminous caudal spot, which, on its falling 
or regaining its level, was hidden again. 
My laborer this day, July the 18th, in turning over 
some manure, laid open a mass of snake’s eggs (coluber 
natrix), fifteen only, and they must have been recently 
deposited, the manure having very lately been placed 
where they were found. They were larger than the 
eggs of a sparrow, obtuse at each end, of a very pale 
yellow color, feeling tough and soft like little bags of 
some gelatinous substance. The interior part consisted 
of a glareous matter like that of the hen, enveloping 
the young snake, imperfect, yet the eyes and form suffi- 
ciently defined. Snakes must protrude their eggs singly, 
