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an orange hue. This species has no teeth on the 
palatal surface of the mouth, and unlike most lizards 
(which produce eggs and lay them in sand or other 
places to be hatched by the heat of the sun) brings 
forth living young, the eggs being hatched in the 
body of the female. The number of young is com¬ 
monly four or five, and they are capable of rnnning 
about immediately on being born, and are soon able 
to exercise their powers in the capture of prey. The 
common lizard frequents heaths and sunny banks, and 
the senses of hearing and seeing are so accute that it 
is difficult to see, and much more so to capture one 
of them, as, if caught, they either wriggle away, or 
if held by the tail leave that appendage behind them 
and escape. The blind or slow worm (A nguis fragilis) 
is found in wood copses, orchards, and sunny banks, 
and, like the lizard, is very fond of basking in the 
rays of the sun. Full grown it is about a foot long ; 
general colour, a brownish yellow, marked with 
minute black specks ; scales small and of a shining 
silvery yellow; tongue broad and forked; teeth 
small and numerous ; feeds on worms, insects, slugs, 
&c. With reference to the food of the blind worm, 
Mr Stewart remarked that great misapprehension 
had prevailed—rats and toads having been supposed 
to form part of it. He shewed, however, that from 
the smallness of the mouth, and the minute size of 
the teeth, it was impossible for it to devour either 
rats or toads, and, for the same reason, that it was a 
mistake to suppose, as had been ignorantly laid to 
the charge of such a harmless and timid animal, that it 
could inflict a wound or in any way pierce the human 
skin. The blind worm, when suddonly alarmed, 
has the faculty of contracting its muscles so as to 
become perfectly rigid and brittle, rendering it 
very easily broken. The third order of reptiles 
is that of the Ophidia (to which the serpents 
or snakes belong), and, as far as he is aware, has only 
one representative in the county, namely, the viper ; 
but he is of opinion that the ringed snake is to be 
found in Perthshire ; and his reason for thinking so is 
that the viper is very common, and the two are to 
the casual observer so much alike that they may be 
