CHANNEL PROVINCE. 267 



sive copses, the remains. of the once large Forest of 

 Bere. Both of these places are, of course, very well 

 adapted for the shelter of adders. 



" The ring snake grows usually to a length of 3 feet. 

 One female taken at Hilsea in 1885 measured 42 inches 

 and contained 22 eggs. 



" The smooth snake does not occur in the area to 

 which these notes apply." — Charles Foran, Norman- 

 ton, Southsea. 



Hayling Island. — " Adders are common here, 

 but the grass snake I have never seen during a 

 residence of thirteen years, and I cannot learn from 

 labourers and keepers that it has ever been seen by 

 them. The adders are certainly larger than those I 

 have seen in Wilts." — A. May, L.RC.P., Chandos, 

 Hayling Island, Hants. 



Portsmouth Dlsteict. — " In the Portsmouth dis- 

 trict I have come to the conclusion that I have met 

 with as many adders as ring snakes, though formerly 

 I thought the latter species the more common. I 

 think both are fairly equally distributed throughout 

 the district. The largest adder I have measured was 

 21 inches, killed at Stokes Bay in April 1883. In 

 that same year I obtained a female ring snake from 

 a man who had killed it on the Hilsea Lines (Earth- 

 worke), Portsea Island, which measured 42 inches 

 and contained 22 eggs. I saw another quite as large 



