Grant Kremshagen, age 11, of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, for his question:

What is a glass snake?

Imagine a shiny, serpent shaped creature who can shatter himself into several fragments. If such a fellow exists, it would be natural to call him a glass snake. Well, he does exist. But he is not a snake at all and, of course, the fragile fellow is not made of breakable glass.

There are all sorts of so called glass snakes in Europe and Asia, Africa and the Americas. They are not often seen because they prefer to hide by day and do their foraging for food after sundown. Many of them live in burrows a few inches under¬ground and rarely come to the surface. There are lots of them around the southern, parts of North America and more of them in Central and South America. But all of these so called glass snakes are actually legless lizards.

The eyes of a true snake are covered with fixed eyelids like transparent window panes. But a glass snake has eyelids of skin and you can watch him blink. He has a scaly, lizard type skin and an amazing feature that snakes do not have. Being .a lizard, he has the ability to regenerate or re grow a lost portion of his tail. This gift comes in very handy when the tail of a lizard is grabbed by a hungry enemy. The tail breaks off and the lizard scuttles away to freedom. In time, his body grows a new tail to replace the old one.

A glass snake lizard makes the very best use of this regeneration talent. At the slightest touch, his tail breaks off and, of all things, it continues to wriggle. His hungry enemy mistakes it for the real thing and fails to notice the legless lizard snaking his way to safety. Some observers claim that the glass snake can break his tail off into several pieces    and leave them behind to confound his enemies.

This tail breaking trick is amazing to watch because the snaky body may separate almost in half    and the tail portion left behind is larger than the living portion that escapes. This is because the tail of this legless lizard is twice the length of his head and body, The three foot long glass snake of North America has a head and body measuring 12 inches, plus a 24 inch tail. No great harm is done when the tail breaks off in one or several pieces. A wad of strong muscles close the wound shut and stop the escape of blood. Anew tail soon begins to sprout, though it will never grow quite as long as the original one.

Glass snake lizards are harmless fellows who dine on grubs and snails, bugs and caterpillars. The giant of the family lives in China. He is four feet long and he feeds on more sizeable morsels, including mice and other lizards. All these legless lizards are very fast and spry, and all of them lay eggs. In some species, the mothers stand guard over their eggs until they hatch. The nests may be in hollow logs, in piles of fallen leaves or in burrows below ground.

For a person who likes the cold blooded reptiles, a glass snake makes a fine pet. He needs a house large enough to move comfortably around. It should have a very deep earthy floor, plenty of moisture and ferny foliage. As a rule, he thrives on a diet of freshly caught earthworms, bugs and grubs. Like most reptiles, he does not respond with much friendly affection. And, of course, he must be handled with extra special tender care. When he feels a rough touch, the legless lizard is all set to shed his tail    and if he does that, you have lost most of your pet, at least temporarily.