Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/150

142 invariably took them in one position. Elevating its head slowly above its victim, it would suddenly seize the slug by the middle, in the same way that a ferret or dog will generally take 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 the 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 whilst in my keeping. The skin came off in separate pieces, the largest of which was two inches in length; splitting first on the belly, and the peeling from the head being completed the last."

For some other details of the history of this little reptile, we quote Professor Bell, from whose elegant work on British Herpetology, most of the above particulars have been gleaned. "One very interesting point in its habits, is its being ovo-viviparous. Like the Zootoca vivipara, the young of this animal are hatched before they come into the world, and it is probable that in this case, as in that of the species just named, as well as in the Viper and the Rattlesnake, the rupture of the membrane of the egg takes place during parturition. The female is said to go with young