88 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



in the gullet. It has a bearing, too, on the swallowing 

 of the young, which will be referred to again. If a 

 frog can remain alive in the gullet for some time, why 

 not young adders ? 



The illustration opposite shows one of the most 

 interesting specimens in my collection. I was look- 

 ing for a gravid slow-worm in an old quarry a mile 

 from my house, and on turning over a large flat 

 slab of stone about 2 feet square, was much sur- 

 prised to see a large adder in the act of swallowing 

 a slow-worm. A very one-sided engagement ended 

 in the total defeat of the adder (he was severely 

 handicapped by being in . the middle of dinner), and 

 I photographed him on the spot, dinner included. 

 The adder is a male 25 J, inches long, and one of the 

 best marked in my collection, and the largest male I 

 have seen. The slow-worm is evidently a young one, 

 and about 4 inches of it is protruding from the adder's 

 jaws, firmly held there by the recurved teeth. 



In all probability an adder would take any am- 

 phibian as food, if mice and slow- worms were not 

 to be had. I have never actually found any in 

 their stomachs, but I have captured adders in cir- 

 cumstances which looked very dangerous for some 

 newts that were near. On one occasion (16th May 

 1898) I was on the Tump, Ewyas Harold, Hereford- 

 shire, with a friend, when we came upon a large 

 female adder coiled up on the top stone of a heap. 

 Having killed the adder, we turned over the stone 



