356 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



'may, no doubt, now and again manage to establish 

 itself in a way, but only, I fear, for a comparatively 

 brief period at the best. 



" Two examples, which we may be sure were 

 escapes or their direct descendants, have been re- 

 cently captured within the suburbs of Edinburgh — 

 one on a footpath by a wall near Haymarket in July 

 1892, and the other in a villa garden at the Grange 

 in September 1893. The first was a variety of the 

 common snake, the second a typical specimen. (Other 

 specimens have since occurred in the city.) 



" The Adder. — The adder or viper is confined to the 

 outskirts of our district, and even there it is very 

 local, and far from common till we reach the highland 

 country beyond Stirling on the one hand, or proceed 

 well into the Lammermoors on the other. I killed 

 two a number of years ago near Johnscleugh in East 

 Lothian. No doubt the adder still exists in a few 

 localities at the foot of the Pentlands, and also 

 towards the Moorfoot Hills. But its numbers must 

 be very limited, for I have wandered a great deal 

 all over the ground during the last thirty years 

 without seeing a trace of one. I have, however, been 

 able to trace them on both sides of the Pentlands. 

 Mr Thomas Gray, Braidwood, Temple, informs me 

 that in his young days they were not uncommon 

 in certain localities in the southern or moorland 

 portion of Mid-Calder parish. Crosswoodhill Moss 

 was a favourite habitat." 



