THE ADDER. 169 



C. A reference to the chapter on the anatomy of 

 the adder will recall what was there said on the size 

 of the gullet (see p. 100). A careful comparison of 

 the cubic capacity with the average number of young 

 will show that the total bulk of the latter is not be- 

 yond the dimensions of the gullet. Discussing this 

 question once with a naturalist, I dissected a gullet 

 and distended it with a blowpipe in his presence. His 

 comment was, " There is room in the gullet for twenty 

 young, but for forty I think not." With this remark 

 I am in full agreement, but am by no means satisfied 

 that an adder ever had forty young at a birth, and am 

 quite certain that if it did occur it was a most excep- 

 tional litter. 1 It is instructive in this connection to 

 remember the appearance of the young in the egg just 

 at full time, and to notice in what a wonderfully small 

 space they can coil themselves up. When taken out 

 of the egg it seems impossible that they should have 

 been stowed away in such a small compass. So in the 

 matter of the gullet it will be found by any one who 

 cares to make a dissection such as described, that the 

 cubic capacity is sufficient to hold the average number 

 of young in the adder's family. 



Anatomically considered, there is nothing impossible 

 in the adder-mother being able to swallow her young 

 and find room for them in the gullet. 



3. The further objection is advanced, that even if 



1 I have been informed since writing the above that an adder 

 brought forth forty young on one occasion in captivity. 



