30 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



The Cardiff ' Western Mail ' gave still more details, 

 and reported the occurrence thus : — 



"The residents of a house at Cefncaeau, near 

 Llanelly, have undergone a very unpleasant experi- 

 ence of late. It was reported by the sanitary 

 inspector of the borough council on Friday that the 

 place had become the domicile for innumerable snakes 

 of all sizes and colours. They crawled over the floors, 

 infested the cupboards, curled themselves together on 

 the furniture, while some more aspiring members of 

 the species climbed the stairs and luxuriated in the 

 comforts of the bedrooms. The human occupants of 

 the house had done their best to rid themselves of 

 these unwelcome visitors, and had waged a war of 

 extermination against them. The snakes continued to 

 come, however, no fewer than twenty -two being 

 slaughtered in one day, as the inspector explained. 

 The sanitary committee listened to the recital of these 

 facts with horror written on their faces, but took no 

 action in the matter, being uncertain, probably, 

 whether their jurisdiction extended to snakes. How- 

 ever, the inspector will probably serve notice to quit 

 upon them, failing compliance with which, more 

 summary measures will be taken." 



Most of the daily papers made some reference to the 

 occurrence, the ' Standard ' had a leading article on it, 

 and the whole thing seemed so unique in the history 

 of British snake-lore that I determined to investicjate 

 it. Accordingly I wrote to the sanitary inspector 



