CHAPTER XXIV. 



V. SEVERN PROVINCE. 



33. East Gloucester. 37. Worcester. 



34. West Gloucester. 38. Warwick. 



35. Monmouth. 39. Stafford. 



36. Hereford. 40. Shropshire. 



Gloucestershire. 



" For more than twenty years I was a constant 

 observer of the reptiles of this county, and have 

 had from 70 to 80 ring snakes in captivity and 

 about a dozen adders. The ring snake is the more 

 common of the two, and averages from 2 feet to 2 feet 

 6 inches, though the old ones attain a greater length. 

 The largest I have seen, which was killed by a boy 

 near Stroud, measured 3 feet 10 inches when dead. I 

 have had them botli in and out of the egg, and reared 

 one for its first year on tadpoles and young newts. I 

 have had other ring snakes from the same locality 

 measuring 3 feet 8 inches, 3 feet 7 inches, and 3 feet 

 6 inches, the two latter of which I captured on the 

 same day. One of these threw up the fur and hones 



