92 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



and found a regular collection of reptiles and am- 

 phibians. There were six slow- worms and a fine 

 specimen of the great water-newt, Molge cristata. 

 Whether the adder knew all that was under that 

 stone or not may be doubted, but if she contem- 

 plated swallowing the lot, I am very sorry that we 

 did not come an hour or so later. In the summer 

 of 1900 I killed an adder in Kentchurch Park, which 

 was also lying on a stone under which were three 

 specimens of the small smooth newt ; and probably 

 in both these cases the adder was on the point of 

 feeding. The smooth newts are shown in the illus- 

 tration on opposite page. 



How to distinguish the sexes. — At first sight 

 it would appear to be a matter of some difficulty 

 to tell a male from a female adder, but careful 

 examination of a few specimens will soon enable 

 the field naturalist to determine the sex without 

 trouble. External appearances alone are quite suffi- 

 cient for this purpose, without going into any inter- 

 nal anatomical details. The points to be noted are 

 the total length of tlie specimen, the length of the 

 tail, the shape of the tail, the number of shields on 

 the body and tail, and the colouration of the adder. 



Total length. — In order that this may be of "as- 

 • sistance, it is necessary for the observer to know 

 the average length of adders in the particular local- 

 ity from which the specimen is taken. Given this 

 knowledge, it will be found that the females are from 



