"The adders are often to be seen in April coiled up together basking in the sun. They are found chiefly on the cliffs, on the moors, and in the brakes; not being seen so frequently in the heather and ling localities, though adders are often found at the Lizard (ie., the geographical Lizard).

"The grass or ring snake is not so common, and the smooth snake unrecorded, in this county."-C. M. Rogers, Perranwell, Cornwall.

Devonshire.

"I should certainly say that the adder was more common than the ring snake in this county. Its average length is 18 inches, but one has been killed measuring 33 inches. The ring snake averages 30 inches in length, and one in the Torquay Natural History Museum measures 3 feet 8 inches.

"The smooth snake is not known here.". -Alex. Somervail, Torquay Museum.

The adder is the more common near the moors, the ring snake in the more cultivated districts. The adder averages about a foot, the ring snake about 30 inches, but it is not at all unusual to find ring snakes measuring 3 feet. The smooth snake does not occur, to my knowledge.

The number of snakes seen, or their traces in the dusty roads, varies very greatly from year to year: the drier the summer the more the snakes get about." -Edmund A. Elliot, M.R.C.S., Kingsbridge, Devon. "Adders, ring snakes, and lizards are all plentiful

in this county. At birth the adder is 6 inches long, the full-grown males being 24 inches, the adult females as much as 27 inches. The ring snake is 7 inches long at hatching, attaining a length of 3 feet 6 inches when full grown. I have not found the smooth snake." -H. P. Hearder, 26 Westwell Street, Plymouth.

MID-DEVON. "There is a good deal of difference of opinion as to which is the more common, the adder or the ring snake; probably the latter is. Those who live on the hills see the adder most, while those in the valleys find the ring snake more common. The adder averages just under 2 feet, and the ring snake about 30 inches. The small red viper occurs.”—Dr Dale, Tiverton.

DARTMOOR DISTRICT.-"The adder is still very plentiful here, and is far the most common species. During the Easter holidays in 1899 no less than nine were secured in the neighbourhood of this house without being searched for. The adult adder measures about 20 inches long here. In colouring there is great variation. Of the nine mentioned, hardly two were quite alike, though the dark-brown colouring is commonest. The colour seems to depend chiefly on locality. The adder found on the red and rich land which is so valued in Devon is found to be red, and is the same size as those found elsewhere.1

1 This is the most definite example of colour protection I have heard of in British adders.-Author.

The ring snake is getting scarcer year by year. The largest ones found are, as a rule, about 30 inches long.

"The smooth snake does not occur in this neighbourhood."-Rev. Gregory C. Bateman, Low Down, R.S.O., Devon.

Somerset.

"The ring snake is the commonest snake in the lowlands; in the higher lands (Mendip) the adder is the more frequent. We rarely find the adder in the low-lying lands bordering the moors. On the slopes both are met with, the ring snake being the more numerous. On the top of Mendip, which is nearly 1000 feet up, one rarely finds the ring snake, while the adder is common; and I have come across them many a time coiled up in the sun under the firs. The full-grown adder averages 27 inches long, the full-grown ring snake 3 feet. The smooth snake does not occur, as far as I know."-H. E. Balch, W. Laura Place, Wells.

"In the neighbourhood of Glastonbury ring snakes are plentiful, the largest I have measured being 3 feet 3 inches. Adders are met with among the peatcuttings and low-lying parts of Mid-Somerset. The largest I have seen was 2 feet 2 inches. There are a number of adders on the Quantock Hills: my brother killed one there about 12 inches long, and a labourer passing by told us that was about the

average size there, and that he had killed as many as fourteen in one day. During flood-time in these lowlying parts of Mid-Somerset the ring snakes and adders take to the trees, and I know a willow-stump on which a rabbit, a rat, and a snake were seen seeking safety together."-Arthur Ballied, Midsomer Norton, Somerset.

CHAPTER XXI.

II. CHANNEL PROVINCE.

7. NORTH WILTS.

8. SOUTH WILTS.

9. DORSET.

10. ISLE OF WIGHT.

Wiltshire.

11. SOUTH HANTS.

12. NORTH HANTS.

13. WEST SUSSEX.

14. EAST SUSSEX.

Though I have lived all my life in North Wilts I have never seen an adder. The ring snake, on the other hand, is common."-Rev. Ed. H. Goddard, Clyffe Vicarage, Wootton Bassett.

"Years ago, when I lived in Wiltshire, I knew the ring snake to be very abundant in some localities."Richard Howse, Museum Nat. Hist. Soc., Newcastleon-Tyne.

Dorsetshire.

'Ring snake. In the district of Bloxworth it comes up from the woods and heaths in considerable numbers every summer to deposit its eggs in fermenting