EXAMINATION AND RECORDING OF SPECIMENS. 219

The preservation and recording of British serpents by field naturalists on the above plan would very soon result in the collection of a vast amount of information at present unobtainable. Most naturalist societies have museums connected with them where the specimens may be deposited, and if not, the curators of county museums would be only too glad to have representative collections of local reptiles. The great drawback of specimens killed by keepers and workmen, as a rule, is that they are so smashed as to be useless for preserving. The usual method of killing an adder is by means of the nearest stick that is stout enough for the purpose; but the field naturalist will find it much more satisfactory to use a tool made expressly for the purpose, and which costs very little. It is a longhandled pair of forceps, the blades of the instrument being covered with indiarubber, so that the skin of the reptile is absolutely unharmed. The blades close automatically, so that the adder cannot get away even if the instrument be dropped. The advantage of such a tool is that harmless snakes may be picked up and examined by those who do not care to do so with their hands, and the snake set at liberty afterwards unharmed; or if a venomous species be captured, it can be disposed of carefully without injuring it for preservation.

1 This instrument was made from my instructions by Messrs Watkins & Doncaster, London, and answers its purpose admirably.

CHAPTER XVIII.

VARIOUS INCIDENTS RECORDED OF BRITISH

SERPENTS.

Snakes and water.-"One sometimes hears people talk of an English water snake, but of course they really are referring to Tropidonotus natrix. The ring snake takes kindly to water, as the following incidents will show. They are led there primarily by a desire to find suitable food. So it is when Dante wants to describe the souls huddling together (in the ninth canto of the 'Inferno') he says:

'Even as the frogs before the hostile snake

Across the water scatter all abroad,

Until each one is huddled on the earth.'

I fancy that this 'biscia' which Dante saw in the swamps round Ravenna was merely a ring snake looking for her dinner. Gilbert White mentions them actually lying under water in search of prey, but I have never seen this.

"Beyond the desire of feeding, snakes take to the water for mere enjoyment. I have often seen them

swimming across a pond. Once, up at Heath Pool, when accompanied by a black retriever, I saw a snake swimming and threw my stick at it. It went some distance beyond the snake, and the dog plunged into the water to fetch back the stick. En route he came across the snake, which stiffened itself as the dog approached. The latter, mistaking the snake for the stick, snapped at it, and then shook its head in disgust. I think he must have killed the reptile, for it did not reappear."-J. Bevir, M.A., Wellington College.

Adder-springing.-"I was never faced by an adder, neither has one ever attempted to spring at me, although I have killed several. One of my workmen told me one sprang at him as high as his waist, but he managed to dodge it, and it just missed him. A keeper tells me he once struck at an adder, which had just previously killed a favourite dog, and the blow missed, and the reptile arched itself up, resting on its tail and neck only, apparently about to spring at him. He cut it down, however, before. it did so.

"I have twice had an adder face my dog, but on each occasion I shot the reptile's head off. Twice in my experience I have had an adder in my house in the winter, when living in a farmhouse. We supposed them to have been brought in with the firewood. They were somewhat torpid, and easily killed.

"A neighbour who lives by tells me that he was riding a bicycle last summer through Dane Court grounds when he saw an adder crossing the road in front of him, and thinking he could break its back by riding over it, he steered straight for it, when just as he thought he had got it, the adder suddenly reared itself up on its tail, and he missed it in consequence. The adder's head was raised up quite close to the calf of his leg as he rode by."—W. Jacob, Eythorne, Dover.

What the Archbishop saw.-"Even the closest observers of snakes are apt at times to be mistaken. For instance, I find in the Life of the late Archbishop of Canterbury (vol. i. p. 22) that on one occasion 'he was returning alone from the village, and in the dust. of the road, on the bridge which crossed the stream, he saw a thing which looked like a snake, with objects like small wheels on its head, that were running round and round at a furious rate, so that the dust flew up in clouds. He was much too frightened to examine it, but ran home and told his mother. He was sent to substantiate his story-to look for the object and bring it home; but it was gone, and he was whipped for telling a lie. "Yet I can see it still," he used to say, "as it lay there; and in later life I have met with few people who knew more about the natural history of Berkshire than he did."-J. L. Bevir, M.A., letter to the Outlook,' November 10, 1900.