186 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



one of the under- keepers at Kentchurch Court for 

 Colonel Scudamore. I killed the adder at the time. 

 We saw one of the little ones come out of her mouth, 

 and it got away in the brambles. The others we 

 smashed to bits, with the old one. You can rely on 

 this to be true." — John Went, 1 Park Crescent, Barry, 

 nr. Cardiff, July 3, 1900. 



Letter 4. — " I have had several proofs lately of 

 Pelias herns swallowing the young on the approach of 

 danger. Several years have elapsed since I saw a case 

 myself. Lord Cawdor's woodman told me on Friday 

 that on one occasion he saw an adder with a lot of 

 young ones playing about her, but when they noticed 

 him they crawled into her mouth. He killed her 

 before she had time to swallow the last, which he 

 found in her mouth. On opening the adder he found 

 eight young ones, about 2h to 3 inches long. This 

 was seen by an under-woodman as well. An educated 

 lady told me a few days ago in Pembrokeshire that 

 she had seen an adder deliberately swallow her young 

 on her approach. A gentleman farmer saw the same 

 thing, and on opening the adder found nine young 

 ones, which had been 'playing about her a few seconds 

 before.'' — (Pev.) D. H. Davies, the Vicarage, Cenarth, 

 Caermarthenshire. 



Letter 5. — "Seeing your letter in the 'Hereford 

 Times' of June 30 about adders, 1 think it may 



