SEVERN PROVINCE. 301 



" Adder. — In Shropshire the adder is not nearly so 

 numerous as the ring snake. It is entirely absent 

 from the immediate neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, 

 the nearest places where it occurs being NessclirT 

 and Pirn Hills. It is fairly numerous in the 

 neighbourhood of Oswestry and Ellesmere, on Budge 

 Heath and Whixall Moss in the north, and on Titter- 

 stone Clee Hill and in the Forest of Wyre in the south. 

 The adder varies a good deal in its ground colour, 

 but is generally either of a dull brownish-grey or a 

 coppery-red hue. According to Eev. J. T. Lee, who 

 dissected a large number of specimens found near 

 his residence, Far Forest Vicarage, in the Wyre 



* 



Forest, the difference coincides with the sex, the 

 grey ones being males and the coppery ones 

 females." — ' Fauna of Shropshire,' by H. E. Forrest, 

 pp. 194, 200. 



Worcestershire and Shropshire. 



" I have frequently taken the adder in the Wyre 

 Forest. The largest specimen I took there was 20 

 inches long, and contained two mice or voles — one 

 full-grown, the other immature and partially digested. 



" The ring snake I believe to be absent altogether 

 from the Forest proper. This species was, however, 

 frequently taken a few years ago close to Dudley, 

 and no doubt still occurs there. The exact local- 

 ity was between Dudley and Lower Gornal, in 

 Staffordshire. 



