192 BRITISH .SERPENTS. 



various estimates of the size of the young, as they 

 are not actual measurements (unless so stated), but 

 the recollections of judgments of length formed some 

 years before the letters were written or the state- 

 ments made. 



A word as to Tyrrell's experiments, which carry 

 great weight in the opinion of some. To my mind 

 they only prove that adders do not swallow their 

 young in captivity, which personally I should never 

 expect them to do even had I seen them do so in a 

 state of nature, which I have not. Although reptile 

 intelligence is by no meaus high, probably adders in 

 a cage are quite conscious that they cannot carry 

 their young away, and also that they are quite safe 

 where they are, especially if the young have been 

 born in the cage in question. 



The late Mr Tootal Broadhurst published a pamphlet 

 some years ago which he was in the habit of circu- 

 lating among his acquaintances, in which he gave a 

 list of people, with their statements, who had seen 

 the swallowing process. The pamphlet was published 

 by J. Maxwell & Sons, Dumfries, but I am informed 

 by them that it is out of print. If I recollect 

 rightly, Mr Broadhurst and his head-keeper were two 

 of the witnesses, and statements were "iven from a 

 dozen or so other persons. 



Other references have been made to the matter 

 from time to time in the ' Field/ * Eod and Gun,' and 

 other papers. 



