GLASS PAINTING. See GLASS STAIN ING.
saurus (family Anguida), which takes its name from the brittleness of the tail, which is more than twice the length of the body, and whose vertebra are so slightly connected, that a part or all of the tail will easily break off, or may be cast off; but the lost part is quickly renewed. The head is very lizard-like. No vestige re mains of limbs except two little spikes near the vent; the body is serpentiform, but the stiff armor of scales prevents the graceful move ments of a serpent. The glass-snake (O. pal Iasi) of southeastern Europe may exceed a yard in length, and dwells in bushy districts where it can hide under leaves and sand, and catch snails and small animals. A smaller species (O. ventralis) is found in the Mississippi Val ley and the southern United States. It is greenish-gray or brownish; sides largely yel low, with narrow black streaks; but the color ation varies greatly, especially in western spec imens. Several nearly related species inhabit Central America. These lizards are rapacious and devour great numbers of ground-keeping insects and crayfish. They breed by means of eggs hidden in loose soil or leaves; and are of slow growth. They are said to be easily tamed and to show intelligence.
certain silicious sponges are so-called from the fact that the fibres or spicules composing their solid frame work or skeleton is like finely spun glass. The
glass-sponges, such as the Venus' flower-basket (Euplectella) and allied forms, live in fine sandy mud in deep water. The Euplectella in habits the ocean around the Philippine Islands in from 10 to 20 fathoms. It forms a hollow cylinder or basket-wcrk of spicules, enlarging at the top, which is broad and a little convex; it lirows rooted in the sandy mud, anchored by its long glass spikes, which at the extremity end in anchor-like hooks. A number of similar but shorter, more dense sponges (Holtenia, etc.) live at great depths in the Atlantic, one kind occurring in shallower water (100 fath oms) in the Gulf of Maine. The glass-sponge of the Japanese seas is Hyalonema, in which the stem is twisted, composed of fibres, like spun glass, while the body of the sponge is long and slender; it grows nearly three feet in length. These glass-sponges, with the spicules having three crossed axes, or six threads radi ating from a common point, are grouped in a family (Hezactinellidce). The efferent canals are loosely meshed, while the digestive cham bers (ampulim) are large and barrel-shaped.