160 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



throiigli the abdoniiual wall, and it was evident that 

 they must be about full time. After she had been 

 photographed in toto, she w^as dissected with the 

 greatest care in the way described. Opening the 

 abdomen, about 1 inch from the anal orifice a young 

 adder at once presented itself to view, loose in the 

 cavity of the belly. Proceeding very slowly, two 

 more appeared, also lying free and loose. These three 

 were lifted out on to a dish, and the whole of the two 

 oviducts with the eggs then exposed. These were 

 tied and lifted out in the usual way. The eggs were 

 counted and numbered eleven, each of which contained 

 one embryo adder, making a total of fourteen for the 

 whole litter.^ But the size of the young was amazing. 

 I measured the three loose ones first with great care, 

 and found that they were 7, 7|, and 8 inches long 

 respectively. The other eleven were simply covered 

 with a very thin membrane (there was no yolk left in 

 the eggs now), and were extracted and uncoiled. The 

 whole fourteen were found to measure from 7 to 8 

 inches in length. They appeared perfectly formed, 

 and no one would have taken them for unborn adders. 

 I arranged ten of them on a dissecting-dish and photo- 

 graphed them, and to be on the safe side in case of 

 any accident happening to the first negative, took a 

 second view. 



Of course the great interest of this specimen is that 

 the young were just on the point of being born. In 



^ Three embryos bad already ruptured tbeir covering. 



