Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/136

128 and after a little time cautiously make their re-appearance, and on the least alarm again seek refuge in their retreat."

Few persons can have paid any attention to these reptiles without having been struck with a phenomenon which, when observed for the first time, seems singular in the extreme,—the facility with which the tail breaks off on the slightest violence. We well remember the astonishment with which we first witnessed the circumstance, and the painful feeling of compunction with which we regarded the writhing fragment left in our fingers, with its white projecting muscle, slightly bleeding, and thought of the involuntary mutilation that we had committed. We were not then aware of the rapidity with which the lost organ would be reproduced.

Dr. Drummond has described his surprise at a similar incident:— "Being on the sea-shore at Pulo Bay, in Sardinia, and searching for specimens of natural history, I observed a large Lizard running for shelter under a heap of stones. I was just in time to seize it by the end of the tail, but suddenly the resistance made by the animal to my attempt to drag it from its hiding-place ceased, and I gave it up for lost; but I as suddenly had cause for alarm myself on seeing what appeared to be a small Snake leaping with great agility about my feet, and springing as high as my knee. I instantly started out of its way, and watched it at a respectful distance, when I found that it was the tail of the animal, which I was not before aware could so easily separate."

This singular phenomenon is doubtless