286 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly November 



That hardy literary autumnal annual, " The Adder- 

 Swallowing Question," has been with us as of yore, and 

 Mr. Tegetmeier has had the usual adders sent to him for 

 dissection, all of which had been supposed by the senders to 

 have swallowed their young, and all of which on dissection 

 were shown to have swallowed something else. In one case 

 it was a common viviparous lizard which the adder had 

 made a meal of, in another a slow-worm had been likewise 

 disposed of; but in no case were young adders to be found 

 in the gullet. In the first case the lizard was stated to be 

 the sand lizard, but from the locality of the specimen this 

 was an obvious error, and it was corrected in the following 

 issue of The Field. The sand lizard still remains something 

 of a puzzle as to its distribution, being restricted to a few 

 localities south of the Thames, and to the coast in the 

 neighbourhood of Southport. 



These cases indicate another source of the innumerable 

 instances which have been stated to occur of the adder- 

 swallowing. It seems that it is quite sufficient for some 

 people to see an adder swallow something for them to feel 

 sure that the something must have been young adders, 

 though it is not easy to understand why that conclusion 

 should be jumped at. However, the £5 reward for an 

 adder containing young ones in the gullet is still to be 

 earned, though it is probably too late for any further 

 claims to be forthcoming this year, as the adders — and the 

 young — have retired from a troublous world for a quiet few 

 months of hibernation. Doubtless, next autumn will see 

 them in evidence again. Meantime, it is once more proved 

 that a very large number of people cannot be relied upon 

 to give an accurate description of a simple event which 

 takes place before their eyes. 



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The editor begs to thank the numerous correspondents 

 who, in response to his request for information on local 

 lizard distribution, have sent him their notes. These have 

 been incorporated in British Lizards, as far as they were 

 received in time. The information thus obtained shows a 

 very general interest in this group of our fauna, and we 



