54 



THE SMOOTH SNAKE. 



(Coronella lecvis. Boie.) 



There can be little doubt that this reptile has been 

 occasionally found in this country for many years, 

 although it is only recently that it has received the 

 name to which it appears to be entitled, and there- 

 with its true place in our reptile fauna. It is some- 

 where about half a century since Mr. Simmons 

 caught a curious little snake near Dumfries, which 

 appeared to differ so much from the common ringed 

 snake that Sowerby figured it in his " British Mis- 

 cellany,"* and called it the Dumfries snake {Coluber 

 Dumfrisiensis). After this, the account and a copy 

 of the figure appeared in Loudon's " Magazine of 

 Natural History."t When Professor Bell published 

 his account of the British Eeptiles, he gave these 

 particulars, but at the same time expressed a doubt 



* Sowerby's " Miscellanies," iii., t. 3. f Vol. II., p. 438. 



