Anguis. 
REPTILES. OPHIDIA. 
155 
it possesses a neck resembling the body of a serpent. The 
teeth are unequal, slender, pointed, a little bent, and grooved 
longitudinally. Two species occur in the strata of Britain. 
1. P. dolichodeirus — This species is an inmate of the has at Lyme. 
2. P. recentior.—YoxmA in the Kimmeridge clay. 
Baron Cuvier considers the bone figured by Sir E. Home, Phil. Trans. 
1818 , tab. iii., as the humerus of a Plesiosaurus ; different, however, from the 
preceding species, and more nearly related to P. pentagonus, or trigonus, two 
other species which he has instituted. — Rech. v. 2. 475. 
OPHIDIA. 
Gen. II. ANGUIS. Blind-worm. — A third eye-lid. Traces 
of scapular and clavicular bones. Tympanum concealed. 
No palatine teeth. Maxillary teeth compressed and re- 
curved. 
2. A. fragilis . — Common Blind-worm. Head covered with 
nine large scales ; dorsal scales rounded and plain. 
Typhlops, Sihh. Scot. 28. — Ciecilia, liay^ Syn, Quad. 289. — Anguis frag. 
Linn. Syst. i. 392. Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 36. Lacep. Ov. Quad. iv. 
293 — P, Slow-worm; PF", Pwl dall, Needr y defaid — Not uncommon. 
Ijength about a foot (in this country, where its groAvth is much reduced by 
the cold), of which the tail forms one-half. Body greyish, Avith two dark-broAvn 
stripes along the back, and one on each side from the eye. The belly dark 
broAvn. Head small ; neck slender ; body larger, continuing nearly of equal 
thickness to the tail, the end of which is blunt. The scales on the head are 
placed in four rows ; the first haAang only one scale, the second two scales, and 
the third and fourth have three each. The other scales on the lips and body 
are small, and nearly of the same size. Eyes small. Gape extending beyond 
tbe eyes. Tongue notched in a crescent form. Ovoviviparous. Lives in 
holes in woods, Avay-sides, or heaps of rubbish. Feeds on Avorms, frogs, and 
mice. Becomes torpid during the winter. Brittle. Its bite not venomous. 
Borlase, hoAvever, when speaking of the “ long cripple^'’' regarded by Pennant 
as the blind-worm, says that its bite is poisonous. He, however, adds, that it 
is of the “ tail-pointed kind.” As the obtuse tailed kind, the true blind Avorm, 
also inhabits Cornwall, it is probable that some of the varieties of the viper 
Avere referred to. The figure which Borlase gives of the “ long cripple,” 
(tab. xxviii. f. 24.) tapers too gradually to a point ever to have been copied 
from a blind-worm. 
The Anguis Eryi\ Linn. Syst. i. 392, or Aberdeen Serpent of Penn. Brit. Zool. 
iii. 35, appears to be no other than a variety of the fragilis., from Avhich indeed 
it can scarcely be said to differ. It was communicated to Linnaeus and Pen- 
nant by Dr David Skene of Aberdeen. In his MS. descriptions of animals 
(now before me), he notices it under the trivial name Anguis Scoticus. Two 
examples are recorded. The largest about 15 inches in length, of Avhich the 
tail occupied 8^ inches. In the smallest specimen, the scales on the belly 
were 124 ; of the tail 63 ; a part of the latter he conjectures may have been 
Avanting. In the largest, the scales of the belly Avere 120 ; of the tail 137. 
Linnaeus states the number 126,-136, Avhile his numbers for fragilis are I35,~ 
