The life-history of British lizards : and their local distribution in the British Isles . onfrom The Field Naturalists Quarterly (August1902) will show. The writer is Eev. S. CornishWatkins, who has for many years observed slow-worms in nature and captivity. The illustrationopposite is the litter in question along with themother. On September 8,1902,1 captured two female slow-worms under a large stone in a disused quarry. Theywere evidently heavy with young. I placed them ina glass-covered box, with some damp moss, and kepttliem liberally supplied with slugs, their favourite of them
The life-history of British lizards : and their local distribution in the British Isles . onfrom The Field Naturalists Quarterly (August1902) will show. The writer is Eev. S. CornishWatkins, who has for many years observed slow-worms in nature and captivity. The illustrationopposite is the litter in question along with themother. On September 8,1902,1 captured two female slow-worms under a large stone in a disused quarry. Theywere evidently heavy with young. I placed them ina glass-covered box, with some damp moss, and kepttliem liberally supplied with slugs, their favourite of them has since then brought forth a litter ofyoung ones, the one on September 20th, the other onthe 24th, and in each case the litter numbered is the maximum number stated to occur. Imeasured the young ones on the day of their birthand found that they were 3 J inches in length, a sizeconsiderably larger than that given in the articlereferred to.^ From the time of birth they wereextremely active, and commenced to feed upon good- ^ The Field Naturalists Quarterly, vol. i. p. THE SLOW-WORM, ANGUIS FRAGILIS 39 sized slugs the day after they were born. One of theyoung, on being handled, disgorged a slug quite halfan inch in length which it had swallowed. I took several photographs of the mothers and theyoung together soon after birth, but on account of theextreme activity of the young ones they did not turnout as successful as I hoped. The most satisfactoryperhaps is the one reproduced, but the incessantwriggling was most trying to the patience of thephotographer. This valuable note is of interest not only from thepoint of view of the size and number of young, butalso as showing the short time which elapses beforethe young ones take to the favourite diet of theirelders. The probability is that these were somewhatlarger than the average young ones, and it is a factthat the slow-worms in Herefordshire, where thisobservation was made, are a large race. As a rule itis some
Size: 1640px × 1524px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubject, booksubjectreptiles
