COUNTY AND DISTRICT DISTRIBUTION. 249 



VIII. Trent Province. 



Vipera hems. — On the east side of England the 

 adder is less common than farther west, and also 

 of a somewhat smaller average size, rarely being 

 found more than 20 inches in length. Nevertheless, 

 the largest adder recorded — or one of the largest — 

 was from Scotton Common in Lincolnshire. It was 

 killed by Mr F. Boyes of Beverley, who wrote to 

 ' The Field ' thus : " I wish to record that, when on 

 Scotton Common in Lincolnshire on Whit-Monday, 

 1 killed a viper of extraordinary length and peculiar 

 colour, the back of the head deep yellow and black 

 bands ; it measured 2 feet 11 inches full. This is the 

 lonojest I have ever killed." 



Several correspondents have drawn my attention to 

 the fact that the adder is found in some marshy places 

 in the east of England — an interesting variation of its 

 usual habit of rather avoiding damp spots. This is not 

 the case in the valley of the Trent itself, where the 

 adder is found to inhabit the sandhills mainly. 



Tropidonotus natrix. — The ring snake is the most 

 common ophidian all over the Trent Province, except 

 in parts of Derbyshire, where it is less common than 

 the adder. As this county is of a very different 

 nature to the others, a different distribution of the 

 serpents is only to be expected. The usual 

 length of the ring snake in this province is from 

 2| to 3 feet. 



