Glass "snake"

Ophisaurus ventralis, (Linn.)

Colouration: Ground colour above, olive, brown or black, with several dots of bright green, within each scale; on the neck these spots form lines. The head is speckled with the same bright colour. Beneath, the colour is uniform, greenish-white.
Dimensions: The measurements of an average-sized adult are given:
Distribution: The Glass "Snake" is widely distributed and occurs well into the North, although not along the Atlantic coast, in the most northern part of its range. In the extreme East it is common from North Carolina to Florida. In the central portion of the United States, however, it occurs in Nebraska (its western limit of distribution), Wisconsin and Illinois. It extends southward through Texas and into northern Mexico.
Habits: That the Glass "Snake" is able, after being shattered into many fragments, to collect itself together again and continue to exist as before the injury, is an old, but wholly erroneous idea. The species is odd only from the fact that a true lizard can be so destitute of crawling appendages. Its habits are quite ordinary, despite the eccentric form.

The body is slender, elongated and very serpentine, with no traces of limbs. From a snake, however, this creature may at once be told by the presence of well-developed eye-lids and ear-openings, while the abdomen is provided, in place of the broad, crawling scutes of a snake, with numerous rows of smooth and overlapping scales, which are of no use in locomotion. The scales of the back are arranged in ring-like rows.

Along each side of the body is a deep fold, this dividing the dark ground colour of the upper surface with the pale hue of the abdomen. The fold extends from behind the head to the base of the tail and defines the proper beginning of the latter appendage, which forms about two-thirds the entire length of the reptile.

The upper surface is smooth and glassy. Although the general formation of the body appeals to a snake, this reptile is more rigid in body than a serpent and thus incapable of assuming the many graceful, lateral undulations of the ophidian. It progresses by means of a few, rather stiff, undulatory movements from side to side.

On some specimens the spots on the sides fuse in a fashion that produces the effect of narrow and serrated greenish stripes. On occasional specimens the spots of both the sides and the back thus fuse, imparting a narrowly striped pattern over the entire upper surface.

Total Length . . . . . 27 inches.

Length of Tail . . . . . 17 1/4 inches.

Greatest Diameter . . . . . 3/4 inches.

Width of Head . . . . . 5/8 inches.

Length of Head . . . . . 1 1/8 inches.

The largest specimen examined measured 37 1-2 inches in length, which was considerably in excess of the normal. This specimen is in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Mass.

Like the character observed among many lizards to a more or less marked degree, the Glass "Snake" may readily divest itself of its tail in case of emergency. As it happens with this particular species, the body parts with the tail with more facility than is noted among most lizards. The reptile cannot be appropriately described as "brittle" for the loss of the tail is largely voluntarily and in many instances permits the lizard to make its escape from an enemy, and ultimately grow a new, though abbreviated caudal appendage.

When pursued, this creature glides away at anything but a rapid gait as compared to the dash of most lizards. It stands but little chance of escape by ordinary flight. Let us suppose the creature to be pursued by a very common enemy--the king snake. As the pursuer overtakes his prey, he grasps it at once. There is a sudden, twisting movement on the part of the Glass "Snake," and the victor finds that the smooth, scaly length he holds in his jaws is so vigorous that it requires much attention, for it twists and wriggles with great energy. Swallowing all his prey head first, the cannibal works his jaws along the victim to engulf it from such a position, when, after much manaeuvring with the writhing quarry, the snake stops in some embarrassment. There is no head. The object that has engaged so much attention is simply the long tail of the lizard and the abbreviated owner has glided to safety.

Rather retiring in habits, the Glass "Snake" spends much of its time in burrowing. Its food consists of earthworms, slugs, and the larvae of insects. When prowling it sometimes ransacks the nest of some small bird that builds upon the ground, and breaking the egg-shells with its strong jaws, laps up the contents with the flat, bluntly forked tongue.

The Family Aniellidae: The family is composed of a single genus and but one species, which is probably a much degenerated form of the Anguidae.