1. There never was an Irish snake, but many people google that very creature on Saint Patrick's Day which is when I'm writing this, my 50th post. 2. According to Irish legend, Maewyn Succat, aka Saint Patrick, rid Ireland of all "snakes". "Snakes" refers to pagans, since the fossil record shows no snakes ever existed in Ireland. 3. However, the Hoffstetter's worm snake, Typhlops cariei, was a real snake that lived on the island of Mauritius, the same island as the dodo. 4. It was 7 inches long, which is almost twice the length of Mauritius's other worm snake, the brahminy blind snake. 5. Paul Carié, from the French Museum of Natural History, discovered the 7 vertebrae of this worm snake around 1900, and it was named "Madatyphlops cariei" in his honor. 6. It was probably almost blind, but could sense light like other worm snakes. 7. It resembles an earthworm, except for its small scales. 8. It was probably parthenogenetic like the other Mauritius worm snake. That means they are all female and can create clones of themselves. 9. Although it went extinct in the 1600's it probably officially declared extinct in 1994. 10. The Round Island Burrowing Boa is the only other extinct species of snake and was also found near the island of Mauritius.