29 



CHAPTER III. 



THE RING SNAKE— Continued. 



THE PLAGUE OF SNAKES AT LLANELLY. 



NEWSPAPER REPORTS — FACTS OF CASE — DESCRIPTION OF 

 LOCALITY — EXPLANATION OF OCCURRENCE. 



That a dwelling;- house in this country should be 

 visited with a plague of serpents seems like a wild 

 romance, and no doubt many people who read the 

 following paragraph (or a similar one) in the daily 

 papers of September 1900 mentally gave the reporters 

 credit for somewhat lively imaginations : — 



" The residents of a house at Cefncaeau, near 

 Llanelly, are suffering from a plague of snakes. The 

 reptiles are of all sizes and colours, and they crawl 

 over the floors, infest the cupboards, and curl them- 

 selves up on the furniture, and even luxuriate in the 

 bedrooms. No fewer than twenty -two snakes were 

 slaughtered in one day." — ' Morning Leader,' September 

 1900. 



