Mr. P. H. Gosse was struck with the amazing springing power of the yellow Jamaica boa (_Chilobothrus inornatus_), and by a similar use of its tail as a propelling power.[61] It rears itself up and leaps an incredible distance, he tells us; one covered nearly twenty feet in such a spring, but that was on the incline of a hill. He noticed another suspending itself from a branch, not with its tail _curled_ round, but with a mere tip of it lying longitudinally, pressure alone supporting the reptile. The slightest contact suffices to maintain the hold. There is still one more offending tail to describe. It belongs to a West Indian relative of our own little ‘blindworm,’ bearing also the family name, and for more justifiable reasons, inasmuch as the eyes of the Jamaica species really are not easily distinguished. It is worm-like in aspect, and of about the same size as _Anguis fragilis_, similarly smooth and polished, and so active that it is difficult to hold it. _Typhlops lumbricalis_ is its name, the first word signifying blind, and the second worm-like. It moves backwards and forwards with equal facility, and is therefore commonly called the ‘two-headed snake.’ The coloured people are dreadfully afraid of its short blunt tail, which they think can ‘sting,’ and which terminates in a minute horny nipple on a shining round plate or scale. Being a burrowing snake, this hard, protected tail is of great use as a fulcrum; but when off the ground, taken up by the hand, for instance, the little shining worm makes still further use of its tail, as its English cousin does, pressing the tip firmly against the fingers, or whatever surface is near it, to support itself, and to the terror of those who hold it, and who forthwith dash it down, though it is wholly powerless to injure. In Australia it has some allies, whose tails are remarkably developed into this useful point. The reptiles being as round as rulers and as smooth, the difficulty of progression without this aid as a fulcrum will be evident. Below are three tails, which will suffice to exemplify their purpose and utility. A curious modification is seen in the centre tail, belonging to _Uropeltis philippinus_, which, as the name implies, terminates in a round disk or shield. This snake is also one of the smooth cylindrical forms, ‘admirably adapted to burrowing,’ says Dr. Günther. Its truncated appearance is as if it were chopped clean in halves. [Illustration: Tails of three burrowing snakes.]