food than short-tailed field-voles, but I have known (only once) an adder take a viviparous lizard while in captivity. The local name is ag-worm, or perhaps it should be spelt agg-worm.

"Ring Snake.-This does not occur anywhere in the Scarborough district. I have two brought me at different times, but they were both undoubtedly escapes.

"Smooth Snake.-I am not aware of its occurrence locally."-W. J. Clarke (Recorder to Scar. Field Nat. Soc.)

North Yorkshire and South Durham.

"The ring snake is the most common here, averaging about 16 inches long, but one was taken near Darlington in 1895 measuring 21 inches. This snake frequents the lower lands. The adder, which is invariably found on the moors and fells, averages about 22 inches."-George Best, Bondgate, Darlington (Hon. Sec. Darlington and Teesdale Nat. Field Club).

YORK DISTRICT.-"In my experience the adder is most common in this district (York). I have seen it frequently on Strensall Common, varying in length from 15 to 27 inches. The ring snake is not so often met with, but I have seen them about 3 feet in length."-Robert Dutton, Phoenix House, York.

RIPON DISTRICT.-"I have often met with adders on the moors in this district when out collecting insects, and have never seen a ring snake but once. The adder averages 24 inches and grows to 26 inches in length."-C. Chapman, The Museum, Ripon.

Yorkshire.

"The adder is the most common in the moorland districts, the grass snake in the low-lying and wooded portions of the county. The male adder averages 18 to 19 inches, the female about 23 inches. The largest female I have seen was 28 inches. The grass snake averages from 3 to 4 feet, but I have seen one 4 feet 6 inches long. The smooth snake has never occurred in the county, to my knowledge.

"It is not generally known that during the daytime grass snakes at times will coil themselves round the stems of the great reed (Arundo Phragmites) and other ditch-growing plants a foot or two above the surface of the ground or water as the case may be. A keeper in the Holderness district tells me that he has frequently seen them in this position. I have so often been told by men of known probity and good sense that they have seen the young adders disappear down the throat of the mother that I am inclined to think there is really something in it.”—Oxley Grabham, Pickering, Yorkshire.

WAKEFIELD DISTRICT.-" Around Wakefield the adder is the most common snake, and is found averaging from 22 to 24 inches. Last year (1899) this species was fairly common at Brock-o'-dale, Wentbridge, some ten miles from Wakefield, and adders were also seen at Newmillersdam, four miles from Wakefield. A friend showed me the other day specimens of adders he had taken at Strensil Common in June 1881, May 1882, May 1894 (23) inches), and June 1898, and also a ring snake 371 inches. The adult ring snake reaches 3 feet in the district.

"Mr Hewitt, who captured these specimens, says adders were very common in the year 1880, but that of late years they have been seen more rarely." -George Parkin, 15 York Street, Wakefield.

HALIFAX DISTRICT." In this locality (as I am informed by Mr E. Halliday) the ring snake is fairly common, though he has never seen the adder here. A ring snake captured at Norland Clough in the summer of 1899 measured 30 inches, which is about the usual length."-George Parkin, 15 York Street, Wakefield.

CHAPTER XXX.

66. DURHAM.

XI. TYNE PROVINCE.

67. NORTHUMBERLAND, SOUTH.

68. CHEVIOTLAND, OR NORTHUMBERLAND, NORTH.

Northumberland and Durham.

The adder is the most common snake here, and when full grown averages over 2 feet in length.

Examples of the red viper and the black viper occur rarely.

"I do not know of the occurrence of the ring snake in Northumberland, but I have seen a preserved specimen found near Sunderland, in the county of Durham. It was found in such an unlikely locality that I have thought it must have been introduced, and I do not look on this specimen as proving the species to be indigenous in Durham. Although it has been recorded in the Yorkshire Naturalist' as occurring in South Durham, I feel very doubtful about it. If it occurs at all, the most likely place

is in the south-eastern part of the county. I have seen a cluster of the eggs of the ring snake sent here from Northallerton in Yorkshire, and at the present time (1900), from the evidence I have, I do not think that this species occurs north of the Tees. The ring snake and the adder are often confused by people who see them, and I have never during fifty years heard of any of the old genuine observers mention the ring snake as being found in Northumberland. It has often been brought north by pedestrians, and often escapes, but no one ever saw a colony of them in the north, and I have not heard of even one in Northumberland. The adder is our reptile, and is distributed generally over the moorland districts, in the burns, and by the banks of rivers, but never in numbers. One may travel over miles of moorland a whole summer and not see one, although they may be there; and sometimes sheep are bitten, also pointer and setter dogs, the bite generally being on the legs.

My opinion is that the ring snake does not occur here except accidentally, and that the adder is generally but not abundantly distributed in these counties."-Richard Howse, M.A., Museum Nat. Hist. Soc., Newcastle-on-Tyne.

1 Since sending me the above report-indeed shortly before his death, which I regret to say took place in March 1901-Mr Howse informed me that the black adder also occurred in this district more often than he at first supposed. (Compare with Rev. C. Davies's

report on Caermarthen, p. 248.)