slug by the middle, in the same way that a ferret, or dog, will, generally, seize a rat by the loins. It would then hold it thus, sometimes for more than a minute, when it would pass its prey through its jaws, and swallow the slug head foremost. It refused the larger slugs, and would not touch either young frogs or mice. Snakes kept in the same cage took both frogs and mice. The Blind-worm avoided the water; the Snakes, on the contrary, coiled themselves in a pan containing water, which was put into the cage, and appeared to delight in it. The Blind-worm was a remarkably fine one, measuring fifteen inches in length. It cast its slough while in my possession; the skin came off in separate pieces, the peeling from the head being completed the last."

Mr. Bell observes, that the shedding of the skin of the Blind-worm takes place as in the true snakes. It is, in fact, taken off in one piece, when the animal is at liberty, and strong enough to effect it; and like those Reptiles," it leaves the skin turned inside out, attached to brushwood, or other substances, which it has employed to entangle and secure, as it was coming off." The truth of this statement we can attest.

The Blind-worm produces its young alive, in the month of June, or July: they amount to ten or twelve in number, and are soon active and lively.

The general colour of this animal is yellowish brown, or yellowish grey, with a pearly lustre; a dark, or black line runs down the middle of the back, and one or two parallel rows of small, dark spots down each side; but these are not always to be seen. The under parts are of a bluish black, with whitish reticulations.

From the go

GENUS ACONITAI

the genus Ace ལ་༧ས་

tias, in whic

in a large which

wor

notch at the tip. The teeth are small; none exist on the palate. There is only a single eyelid, and this is the lowermost, as we term it, where there are two. The tail is blunt. The scales are smooth, and imbricated.

One species only is known, the ACONTIAS MELEAgris, (see engraving,) a native of the Cape of Good Hope. The ACONTIAS CACA of Cuvier, also from Africa, forms the type of a distinct genus, termed Typhline by Weigmann.

GENUS TYPHLOPS.

We conclude with the genus Typhlops, which ought rather, perhaps, to be placed on the side of the snakes, than at the termination of the Saurian Reptiles.

Like the Blind-worm, the Reptiles belonging to this genus are covered with small, imbricated scales; the eyes are visible beneath the skin, as little dark dots; the head is covered with plates; the muzzle is prominent; the tongue, like that of true snakes, is long, extensible, and forked.

"These little snakes," says Cuvier, "resemble, at a first glance, common earth-worms. Species are found in the hot regions of the old and new world. They are burrowing Reptiles, living much in the ground."

Here, then, we close the Sauria; having advanced, through the different groups composing this order, to the Serpents, or Ophidia, which will next engage our attention.

S

ORDER III.-OPHIDIA, OR SERPENTS.

"HIS HAND HATH FORMED the crooked serpent," Job xxvi. 13.

THE order OPHIDIA abounds in species, which are arranged in various, and somewhat unsettled, genera; presenting no trifling amount of labour to the naturalist who engages in a study of this group of Reptiles. We shall not, however, attempt to enter minutely into details, which would confuse, rather than instruct, our readers, but content ourselves with generalities, as best adapted to the object in view.

The characters of the Ophidia may be summed up as follow :-With an elongated form, is conjoined not only great flexibility, but amazing strength. The upper surface is covered with narrow and somewhat pointed scales, of small, or moderate size, imbricated, or disposed like tiles; these are called squama. The under surface is covered with broad, transverse scales, or plates, termed scuta; of which, the posterior edge of one overlays the anterior edge of the other.

Generally, the top of the head is covered with plates. The eyes are not protected by moveable eyelids, or by a membrana nictitans, but the epidermis covers the cornea, as it does the scales; and the whole of this delicate, pellucid membrane is shed whole, and renewed every year it is commonly called the slough.

There are no true limbs: there are not even the rudiments of an anterior pair beneath the skin; but a vestige of posterior limbs, in the form of small hook-like stylets, sometimes exists, as in the Boa. No external auditory orifice is to be seen.

If we pass from merely external characters, and examine the internal framework, or skeleton, we shall find it extremely simple. It consists of the skull, the vertebral column, and the ribs. The breast-bone is wanting, as are, also, the bones of the hips, and of the limbs; excepting where the hinder pair are not altogether lost,