As the spring comes on, and the warm sun bursts forth, a formidable
snake-like creature, nearly three feet in length, is often seen
frequenting the plantations of the sweet potato, or coiled up beneath
the roots of an old tree; its keen eye watching for any small reptile or
insect which may be passing. The head is small in proportion to the
body, and of a pyramidal form--mottled at the sides with black and
green, the jaws edged with yellow. Its abdomen is bright yellow; and
the upper part of the ear is marked with numerous lines of black, green,
and yellow.
Altogether, it has a very venomous look about it; but is truly one of
the most harmless of creatures, not being a snake at all, though it goes
by the name of the glass snake. It is in reality a lizard; though--not
having the vestige of limbs--it is appropriately called the
lizard-snake. It has, however, eyelids; and the tongue is not sheathed
at the base, as is the case with serpents; while its solid jaw-bones do
not enable it to open its mouth, as they are capable of doing. It has a
tail, twice the length of its body, from which it can with difficulty be
distinguished.
Its peculiar characteristic is its extraordinary fragility--arising from
the muscles being articulated quite through the vertebras. If struck
with a switch, the body is easily broken in two or more parts.
Sometimes, indeed, the creature breaks off its own tail, by a remarkable
habit it possesses of contracting the muscles with great force. The
common English blind-worm breaks to pieces in a similar manner.