1902 Reptile Studies 261 



Reptile Studies. 



By Gerald Leighton, M.D, 



V. The Adder-Swallowing Theory. 



It seems utterly impossible for the season of autumn to 

 come and go without the question of whether or not the 

 adder-mother swallows her young in times of danger crop- 

 ping up for discussion in the press. This season has been 

 no exception to the rule, and the usual statements have 

 appeared from persons claiming to have been eyewitnesses 

 of this extraordinary phenomenon.^ There is no necessity 

 to quote these references in full : they do not differ in any 

 material manner from the usual statements which are seen 

 from time to time in almost every periodical in the country. 

 But in one respect this autumn is exceptional in this matter, 

 inasmuch as a certain Mr Wilkins of Pembrokeshire claimed 

 the reward of ^^5 offered by the * Field ' for any specimen 

 sent to them containing the young adders in a position 

 proving that they had been swallowed. It appears also 

 that " Brusher " Mills, the famous adder - catcher of the 

 New Forest, claimed the reward, and that he too for- 

 warded an addcF for dissection, which was duly exam- 

 ined, and reported on by Mr W. B. Tegetmeier in the 

 ^ Field.' The results of both these dissections were pub- 

 lished in the issue of that paper of August 30, 1902, and 

 the young contained in the adders were proved to have 

 been unborn. That is to say, people who are not ac- 

 quainted with the fact that the adder brings forth her 

 young alive and fully developed, on finding specimens 

 apparently with young inside, assume that they must 

 have been swallowed. This is doubtless the origin of 

 most of these cases of alleged observation. As we dealt 

 fully with the process of reproduction in its later stages 

 in our last issue, there is no occasion to repeat now 

 what was then said : indeed it is only because the reports 



1 Vide ' Oban Times,' August 23 ; ' Daily News,' September 8, &c. 

 VOL. L — NO. 4. * S 



