THE ADDER. 185 



molished. This exceeded my comprehension. I suc- 

 ceeded in killing it, and from legendary remembrance 

 I put one foot on its tail, and witli the other I pushed 

 up the body of the viper, and the ivlioU seven fled out. 

 I succeeded in killing four of these little ones ; the 

 others escaped in the heather. I am quite convinced 

 they do swallow them, and I grieve I did not attempt 

 the further elucidation to me a mystery." — E; Slann, 

 30 Queen Anne's Gate, London, July 2, 1900. 



Letter 3. — " Seeing a few lines in the ' Hereford 

 Times ' of Saturday last about adders swallowing their 

 young, I for one have seen it, and I will tell you 

 where. It was not far from where you are living. 

 About half a mile from Pontrilas station there is a 

 farm called Penlan, just above the distillery works. 

 Three hundred yards from the barn at that farm there 

 used to be some rough brambles, just outside the 

 Benath Wood. There was another person with me, 

 but at present I have forgotten who it was. Anyhow, 

 the old adder was a large one, very dark. I was very 

 near putting my foot on her. She at once jumped 

 right cit me, and threw a lot of something out of her 

 mouth on my clothes. I retreated back some paces 

 to look for a stick or stone, and I returned back, and 

 then she ' blowed ' at me again. I saw two or three 

 young ones go down her throat, about 4 or 5 inches 

 long, and I noticed that they were very dark and 

 about the size of a larqe worm. I was at that time 



