330 BRITISH SERPENTS. 



EiPON District. — " I have often met with adders 

 on the moors in this district when out collecting 

 insects, and have never seen a ring snake but 

 once. The adder averages 24 inches and grows to 

 26 inches in length." — C. Chapman, The Museum, 

 Eipon. 



Yorkshire. 



"The adder is the most common in the moorland 

 districts, the grass snake in the low-lying and wooded 

 portions of the county. The male adder averages 18 

 to 19 inches, the female about 23 inches. The largest 

 female I have seen was 28 inches. The grass snake 

 averages from 3 to 4 feet, but I have seen one 4 feet 

 6 inches long. The smooth snake has never occurred 

 in the county, to my knowledge. 



" It is not generally known that during the day- 

 time grass snakes at times will coil themselves round 

 the stems of the great reed {Arundo Phragmites) and 

 other ditch-growing plants a foot or two above the 

 surface of the ground or water as the case may be. 

 A keeper in the Holderness district tells me that 

 he has frequently seen them in this position. I 

 have so often been told by men of known probity 

 and good sense that they have seen the young 

 adders disappear down the throat of the mother 

 that I am inclined to think there is really some- 

 thing in it." — Oxley Grabham, Pickering, Yorkshire. 



