PROCURING SURJECTS. 
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as the glossy skin which covers them requires fewer precautions 
for its preservation. The species which can be captured with 
least injury, as the chelonians, or tortoises, have their softer 
parts protected by a special organization or shell. It 1 is other- 
wise with the saurians and ophidians, or lizards and serpents. 
Here, to real danger in the pursuit, is added the difficulty of 
taking them without injuring the external skin. In the lizards, 
for example, especially those of small size, the skin is so deli- 
cate that the slightest blow damages it ; and it is extremely 
difficult to procure them without such violence. Some persons 
recommend that they should be approached without being dis- 
turbed, and struck on the back by a slight blow with a small 
pliant twig or cane. This blow, could it be delivered, would 
suffice to break the vertebral column, and thus effectually pre- 
vent them from running away. But the first difficulty is to 
approach them unperceived. It is like putting salt on the 
bird’s tail ; and when they can be so approached, the blow 
must be very slight indeed, in order to avoid breaking the skin, 
and yet strong enough to accomplish the end in view, which 
requires discrimination. In fact, they are not easily obtained. 
The spring is the period when it is most desirable to attack 
them. At the commencement of this season, the sun, for 
which they crave, leads them to issue from their winter retreat, 
while the heat in which they display themselves seems rather 
to render them torpid than to vivify them, as it does later in 
the season. Slow to move at this season, they will suffer 
themselves to be approached without stirring. In this state 
their hole may be covered with a handkerchief, and their re- 
treat cut off. Having no place of refuge, they may now be 
caught by the hand without injuring them, taking care at the 
same time to avoid their bite ; not that it is dangerous, but it 
causes a considerable bruise and a livid contusion. The tail is 
very fragile, and must neither be seized nor struck. Never- 
theless, in spite of every precaution, if it is separated from the 
body, it should be secured, and, with a little ingenuity and 
care, it may be replaced in mounting. 
The chase of ophidians is, without contradiction, a dangerous 
occupation, the bite of many of them being venomous, but their 
skin is less delicate than the lizard’s. They are slower in their 
motion, and consequently more easily secured. Should any of 
my readers have a fancy for this pursuit, — which, I confess, I 
have not, — let them furnish themselves with a pair of long- 
handled pincers and a bag made of skin, with a mouth formed 
