THE ADDER IN SOLWAV 157 



which I was totally unacquainted. The adders are in great 

 numbers about the banks of the Garpel, and the eels 

 probably catch them about the edge of the water, but it 

 seems very remarkable how they get them at all.' ' 



In the " Courier " for loth October 1826 the editor again 

 reverts to the foregoing letter, stating that his correspondent 

 was a Mr. Lorimer, and that after dissecting the eel as 

 related, the fish had been flung down. " In the course 

 of the very same week, he (Mr. Lorimer) caught several 

 more eels, and though these appeared to be sound and 

 good, the recollection of what had occurred before excited 

 such a prejudice against them that it was unnecessary to 

 cook what no one would eat. These, therefore, he also 

 flung away under a tree beside the former, and on passing 

 the spot soon after he was surprised to find myriads of flies 

 preying on the eels caught last, and not one attacking the 

 other. . . . Here, then, we have the testimony of a respect- 

 able individual to two rather curious facts first, that eels 

 devour adders ; and secondly, that flies have a perception 

 of, and shun any poisonous substance." 



Since I first read this paragraph I have often watched 

 a dead adder, and found that flies had no hesitation in 

 sucking its juices, or laying their eggs upon the carcase. 

 To be sure, I have not had the chance of experimenting 

 with an eel that had swallowed an adder. Here is a 

 paragraph that bears upon the former abundance of the 

 adder in the Stewartry : " On Friday week Mr. James 

 Neilson, on the farm of Lochend, about three miles to the 

 south of the Nine- mile Tollbar, killed at one shot seven 

 adders, one of which was as long as a man's arm " 

 (28th August 1832). 



For nearly thirty years following, the species is not 

 mentioned in the "Courier" at all. But on 25th September 

 1860 occurs the following: "Adders are reported as being 

 unusually plentiful in various portions of Scotland this 

 season, and sportsmen and others who have been treading 

 the moors and wilds of Dumfriesshire and Galloway confirm 

 the statement. As the so-called summer has been wet and 

 cold, the abundance of adders, which love heat and sunshine, 

 is rather remarkable. Probably the hot and dry summer of 



