COUNTY AND DISTRICT DISTRIBUTION. 243 



what is seen so often, the adder keeping to a restricted 

 area, and there becoming very numerous for a time. 



Tropidonotus natrix. — The ring snake is to be found 

 fairly universally distributed all over this division, 

 and, with the possible exception of Surrey, is more 

 common than the adder in every county of the 

 division. It averages up to 3 feet, as elsewhere in 

 the south. 



Coronella austriaca. — There are two points of in- 

 terest concerning the smooth snake in the Thames 

 Province. The first is, that at a former period, some 

 twenty years ago, it was an inhabitant of Berkshire, 

 where it is apparently no longer found. The second 

 is, that it occurs in Surrey, and from the observations 

 of Mr Bryan Hook it seems quite probable that it may 

 be in considerable numbers in this county. No doubt 

 it is usually mistaken for the adder and killed forth- 

 with, many specimens thus being lost to county re- 

 cords. Unfortunately the class of people who come 

 across more of our serpents than any one else — the 

 various workers on the land, that is — look upon them 

 from one point of view only, namely, as things to be 

 destroyed on every possible occasion. 



The small red viper has been taken in Berks in this 

 division. 



IV. Ouse Province. 



It has proved difficult to get much local information 

 for this area, but one finds that the ring snake is the 



