CHANNEL PROVINCE. 263 



" I have observed that adders when caught usually 

 disgorge their last meal. I have never seen them 

 attempt to swallow their young. 



" King snakes choose fresh cow-manure if available 

 to lay their eggs in, and they visit the eggs in the 

 evening. The eggs are laid in May or June, but I 

 caught five ring snakes in a manure-heap in July this 

 last summer (1900). When taken away, strange to 

 say all the eggs went bad, and not one of them came 

 out." — A. Old, 3 Byne Eoad, Sydenham, S.E. 



Central Dorset. — " In this part of the county — a 

 place untouched at present by the newest forms of 

 civilisation, and nine miles from the nearest railway 

 station — both ring snakes and adders are plentiful, 

 and may be seen in numbers in the spring. In my 

 immediate neighbourhood there are large coverts, and 

 frequently, when shooting these for the last time at 

 the end of the winter, adders are killed in numbers. 

 On one occasion, two or three years ago, seven adders 

 were slain by the beaters in one morning at Kings- 

 grove Wood in the parish of Piddletrenthide. I was 

 present at the time, and besides these seven several 

 more were seen. Even more common is the ring 

 snake, and I know of one lane which is infested with 

 them in the spring-time. When riding down this lane 

 this year my horse kept on shying at the reptiles, 

 which were creeping away in all directions. On 

 another occasion, when shooting in the month of 



