TYNE PEOVINCE. 333 



is in the south-eastern part of the county. I have 

 seen a cluster of the eggs of the ring snake sent here 

 from Northallerton in Yorkshire, and at the present 

 time (1900), from the evidence I have, I do not think 

 that this species occurs north of the Tees. The ring 

 snake and the adder are often confused by people 

 who see them, and I have never during fifty years 

 heard of any of the old genuine observers mention 

 the ring snake as being found in Northumberland. 

 It has often been brought north by pedestrians, 

 and often escapes, but no one ever saw a colony of 

 them in the north, and I have not heard of even 

 one in Northumberland. The adder is our reptile, 

 and is distributed generally over the moorland dis- 

 tricts, in the burns, and by the banks of rivers, but 

 never in numbers. One may travel over miles of 

 moorland a whole summer and not see one, although 

 they may be there ; and sometimes sheep are bitten, 

 also pointer and setter dogs, the bite generally being 

 on the legs. 



"My opinion is that the ring snake does not 

 occur here except accidentally, and that the adder 

 is generally but not abundantly distributed in these 

 counties." 1 — Kichard Howse, M.A., Museum Nat. Hist. 

 Soc, Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



1 Since sending me the above report — indeed shortly before his 

 death, which I regret to say took place in March 1901 — Mr Howse 

 informed me that the black adder also occurred in this district more 

 often than he at first supposed. (Compare with Rev. C. Davies's 

 report on Caermartheu, p. 248.) 



