304 llEPTILES. 



CHAPTER II. THE SNAKES. 



There are in Great Britain three snakes, one noxious. 

 No snake occurs in Ireland. 



As already incidentally mentioned, our only poisonous 

 snake, the Adder, is easily distinguished from the rest. 

 Adder or Equally unmistakable are the dark zigzag line 

 Viper. along its back and the Y-shaped black patch 

 on the crown of its blunt head. On closer inspection, too, 

 the plates on the head are observed to be smaller and more 

 numerous than in the others. In colour, it is true, this 

 snake exhibits considerable variety, examples showing every 

 shade of brown to black. In 1881 I remember catching 

 in Fairlight Glen, near Hastings, a small red kind, which 

 was locally described as particularly venomous. Dr Strad- 

 ling tells me that the red phase, there regarded as a valid 

 species, is also credited in Herts, Somerset, Devon, and 

 parts of Scotland, with special virulence. The adder, like 

 all snakes, casts its slough regularly, wriggling out of it in 

 such manner that the skin, even to the transj^arent eye- 

 covers, is turned inside-out. The bite of this snake is 

 instantaneous. The venom lies in a gland above the 

 upper jaw, and when the two fangs strike, it is driven 

 down a canal in the fang into the wound. The fangs are 

 at once withdrawn, and the adder strikes a second time 

 with lightning rapidity. When not in use, the fangs lie 

 back, not unlike a similar arrangement in some sharks ; 

 and there is a series behind which are probably ready to 

 take the place of those in active service should the latter 

 get broken, as not infrequently happens, though the second 

 series are often not perforated. The venom is of greenish 

 hue. I knew a herpetologist in Sydney who had dessi- 

 cated the venom of almost every known j^oisonous snake 

 of that continent, and who kept the powders in sealed 

 bottles, — poison enough to have rid the capital of the 

 Colonies of its larrikins and Chinamen. 



