THE SMOOTH SNAKE. 55 



"This occurred in 1891, and not until 1898 did I 

 improve my acquaintance with this species. Early in 

 June of that year I took a specimen alive upon my 

 own land here at Churt, and sent it to the Zoological 

 Gardens in London, where it was still thriving in 

 August last (1898). Another specimen was killed 

 here by mistake in July, and in August my children 

 found a cast-off skin of a fourth specimen. From the 

 fact of three specimens having been noted in one 

 summer, it seems reasonable to conjecture that the 

 creature is by no means rare upon our Surrey heaths, 

 and that more careful observation may lead to its 

 discovery elsewhere." 



Apparently Berkshire is not the only locality which 

 the smooth snake has at one time inhabited, only to 

 disappear subsequently, for in ' Science Gossip ' of 

 August 2, 1880, there is an article on this species by 

 A. L. Baldry, in which the writer records its former 

 frequency in the neighbourhood of Bournemouth, and 

 its disappearance thence. Mr Baldry says : — 



"As I lived for some years at Bournemouth, in 

 Hampshire, formerly its chief habitat, I have had 

 many opportunities of observing the coronella. 

 Twelve years ago — i.e., in the year 1868 — Bourne- 

 mouth was but a very small village, surrounded by 

 large expanses of moorland, intersected with marshy 

 valleys, and was a famous hunting-ground for either 

 naturalists or entomoloofists. At this time coronella 

 was extraordinarily abundant. During the very hot 



