40 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



full and authentic details of the matter, so I com- 

 municated with Sir Robert Hodson, who kindly wrote 

 to me as follows : — 



" I regret I am unable to give you any facts from 

 my own knowledge, as I was away from home at the 

 time, and the snake having been sent to be preserved, 

 I have not seen it yet. My steward has supplied 

 me with the following facts. The snake was killed 

 by him on October 8, 1900, in a laurel-bush. It was 

 identified by Dr Scharff, of the Museum of Science 

 and Art of Dublin, as belonging to the species known 

 as T ropiclonotiis natrix or ring snake. It measured 

 26 inches in length. 



" The only view I can form as to how this snake 

 came to Ireland, is that possibly the eggs might have 

 come over amongst some fruit-trees which I pur- 

 chased in England three or four years ago, and being 

 planted in a warm sheltered position, the eggs might 

 possibly have matured. The snake was killed in the 

 neighbourhood of these trees. It is remarkable that 

 another snake, reported to be of the same species, 

 was also killed in Co. Wicklow this autumn." — 

 Holly brooke, Bray, Co. Wicklow, 13th November 

 1900. 



One or two points at once struck me in Sir Robert 

 Hodson's letter as slightly different from the report 

 first quoted. In the first place, the snake was 26 

 inches long, not 20 inches as reported — that is, it 

 was an older snake than one would have gathered 



