64 
TA ME BLIND- WORMS. 
round the fractured portion, forming a kind of hollow into which the broken end of the tail 
can be slipped. 
According to popular notions, the Blind-worm is a terribly poisonous creature, and by 
many persons is thought to be even more venomous than the viper, whereas it is perfectly 
harmless, having neither the will nor the ability to bite, its temper being as quiet as its move- 
ments, and its teeth as innocuous as its jaws are weak. I fancy that the origin of this opinion 
may be found in the habit of constantly thrusting out its broad, black, flat tongue with its 
slightly forked tip ; for the popular mind considers the tongue to be the sting, imagining it to 
be both the source of the venom, and the weapon by which it is injected into the body, and so 
logically classes all creatures with forked tongues under the common denomination of poison- 
ous animals. 
It is said that this reptile will bite when handled, but that its minute teeth and feeble jaws 
can make no impression upon the skin ; and also that when it has thus fastened on the hand 
of its captor, it will not release its hold unless its jaws be forced open. For my own part, and 
I have handled very many of these reptiles, I never knew them attempt to bite, or even to 
assume a threatening attitude. They will suddenly curl themselves up tightly, and snap off 
their tails, but to use their jaws in self-defence is an idea that seldom appears to occur 
to them. 
The pertinacity with which the notion of the Blind-worm’s venomous properties is 
implanted in the rustic mind is really absurd. During the summer of this year, I passed 
some little time in a forest, and having gone round to the farms in the neighborhood, as 
distances of several miles are euphuistically called, begged to have all reptiles brought to me 
that were discovered during the haymaking. In consequence, the supply of vipers and snakes 
was very large, and on one occasion a laborer came to the house, bare-headed, his red face 
beaming with delight, and his manner evincing a proud consciousness of deserving valor. 
Between his hands he held his felt hat tightly crumpled together, and within the hat was dis- 
covered, after much careful manoeuvring, the bead of a Blind-worm emerging from one of 
its folds. 
As I put out my hand to remove the creature, the man fairly screamed with horror, and 
even when I took it in my hand, and allowed it to jfiay its tongue over the fingers, he could 
not believe that it was not poisonous. No argument could persuade that worthy man that 
the reptile was harmless, and nothing could induce him to lay a finger upon it ; the prominent 
idea in his mind being, evidently, not that the Blind-worm had no poison, but that I was 
poison -proof. To add to his alarm, the creature had snapped off its tail during the rough 
handling to which it had been subjected— a proceeding which, by Ms peculiar process of 
reasoning — only corroborated its venomous properties. 
In its wild state the Blind-worm feeds mostly on slugs, but will also eat worms and various 
insects. Some persons assert that it devours mice and reptiles ; but that it should do so is a 
physical impossibility, owing to the very small dimensions of the mouth and the structure of 
the jaw, the bones of which are firmly knitted together, and cannot be separated while the 
prey is being swallowed, as is the case with the snakes. 
In captivity it seems to reject almost any food, except slugs ; but these molluscs it will 
eat quite freely. I have kept a specimen in my possession for about four months, which has 
proved a very interesting creature. After keeping it for a fortnight, I procured six or seven 
white garden slugs, and placed them in the glass vessel, together with the Blind-worm. 
The reptile instantly saw its prey, but did not move from its place, merely following with 
a slow movement of the head the course of one of the slugs that crawled within an inch or two 
of its nose. Presently it raised its head very deliberately, and hovered over the slug as it 
glided along, and, after following it for an inch or two, quickly opened its mouth to the full 
extent, lowered its head, and grasped the slug just behind the head, squeezing it with some 
force, and causing a great commotion among the muscles of the foot. 
Presently it relaxed its hold a little, again opened its mouth and took a fresh grasp, and 
after three or four of these movements, it contrived — how, I cannot comprehend, though I 
have watched the creature over and over again — to get the head of the slug down its throat. 
