Lizakds.- 
-EEPTILES.- 
-Slendbu-tongued Lizauds. 
19 
ia the concavity of a pinguin leaf (Bromelia pinguin) 
it is occasionally observed to lie, basking in the sun. 
The rounded form of the head and body, devoid of pro- 
jections; the close-lying and glossy scales; the shortness 
of the legs, bringing the belly flat upon the ground ; 
and its constant habit of resting with the chin on the 
ground also — give to the Mabouya an asfiect very much 
unlike that of our other common lizards, and cannot 
fail to remind even the least observant of its alfiuity 
with the serpent tribes. The negroes, 
in the recognition of this proximity 
doubtless, have bestowed upon it the 
appellation of ‘ snake’s waiting - boy,’ 
or, more briefly, ‘snake’s boy.’ From 
the shortness of its legs results also 
another resemblance to a snake ; for 
owing to the shortness of its steps, if 
made only with the legs, it throws the 
shoulder and hip forward at each step ; 
and this throwing out of the sides at 
different parts alternately, produces a 
wriggling motion, somewhat serpentine 
in appearance. They are too wary and 
too swift to be caught by the hand. 
A smart tap with a switch, however 
across the shoulders, disables them for 
a while; but if the blow descend on 
the tall, that organ instantly separates 
with the like brittleness as in other 
lizards. Cats not unfrequently catch them. The 
beautiful provision for protecting the eye, without im- 
peding vision, shown by the lower (and larger) eye- 
lids having a sort of window, a transparent, glassy, 
circular plate in the centre, immediately opposite the 
pupil when the eye is closed, is ■well worthy of admira- 
tion as an obvious example of creative wisdom and 
providential care. Habitually darting to and fro in the 
narrow crevices of walls and heaps of stones, the eyes 
of this Scink, if unprotected, might be continually liable 
to injurious contusions, while, as it feeds on the insects, 
at least in part, that resort to such situations, undimmed 
vision would be essential to it while permeating them.” 
The Nimble Mabouya is found to be viviparous. Its 
total length is about nine incbes. 
We then come to a series of genera in which the 
limbs are weak, far apart from each other, and the body 
and tail much lengthened ; the series terminating in 
the genus Anguis, wdiere the limbs cease to be visible, 
the bones being rudimentary in structure and hidden 
under the skin. 
THE BLIND-WORM, or well-known Slow-WORM of 
English authors [Anguis fragilis) — fig. 7 — is the only 
recognized species belonging to this genus. Professor 
Bell has given us a very good account of this little 
snake-like lizard, in his excellent work on British 
Reptiles. Its total length is about ten or twelve inches, 
sometimes even fourteen, the tail being nearly half the 
length of the body. The general colour is yellowish- 
brown or yellowish-grey, with a pearly lustre. A dark, 
or black line, runs down the middle of the back, and 
generally one or two parallel rows of small dark 
spots down each side. The under parts are of a 
bluish-black, with whitish reticulations. It is a native 
of Great Britain, and is found in almost every part of 
Europe, excepting the extreme north, and is capable of 
enduring a much colder climate than most other rep- 
tiles, even of our own country. It is plentiful in 
Russia, Siberia, Poland, Denmark, and Sweden, as well 
as the more temperate parts of Europe, as far south as 
Italy. The Slow-worm, in this country, makes its 
appearance at an earlier season than any other of our 
scaled reptiles. It frequents warm banks, where, like 
Fig. 7. 
The Blind-worm (Anguis fragilis). 
almost all other Samians, it delights to bask in the 
rays of the sun. In autumn, it retires under masses of 
decayed wood or leaves, or into soft dry soil covered 
with heath or brushwood. Its general habitation is in 
holes in the ground, which it bores for itself to a con- 
siderable depth, and from which it comes up for the 
purpose of breathing. The habits of the Slow-worm 
are exceedingly gentle and inoffensive. Even when 
handled roughly, it rarely attempts to bite, and when 
it is irritated so as to induce it to seize upon the finger, 
the teeth are so small as scarcely to make an impres- 
sion. From its serpent-like form, it is not at all 
wonderful that it should obtain the unenviable repu- 
tation of being exceedingly venomous. Amongst the 
uninformed, accordingly, it really does possess this 
character. “ Here,” says Mr. Gosse, alluding to this 
belief amongst our peasantry, “ here is Hodge the 
hedger ; perhaps from his occupation he may have 
some acquaintance with the bit of dingy wire : what say 
you, Hodge ? ‘ ’Tis a zneak, dang un ! ’ and he makes 
a spiteful blow with his stick across the back of the 
poor animal, with the apologetic asseveration, ‘ ’Tis a 
deadly pizon varmin ! ’ But see, the blow has effec- 
tually demolished it, and that in a strange manner ; for, 
as if it had been made of glass, it has snapped across 
in four or five places; and we at once perceive the 
propriety of one of its Latin appellations, that of 
fragilis.” * This fragile or brittle property, is so 
remarkable in this little creature, that on being laid 
hold of or alarmed, it contracts its body so forcibly as 
to become perfectly stiff, and then it will break in two 
with the slightest blow or attempt to bend it. The 
• Excelsior, vol. vi. 
