Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/147

Rh length attained by this reptile, though it has been known considerably longer. It is nearly of equal thickness throughout, but rather more slender towards the tail, the tip of which is abrupt. The colour is brownish grey, with a silvery gloss;

several rows of obscure dark dots run down the sides, and a black line down the middle of the back. In some varieties, however, these marks are scarcely visible. The under-partsunderparts [sic] are bluish-black.

The Slow-worm is spread over nearly the whole of Europe, from Sweden and Russia to the shores of the Mediterranean: it is found in the Swiss Alps at an elevation of nearly 6000 feet; it is well known in every part of Great Britain, but