SCOTLAND. 353 



The young are particularly handsome little things 

 in their first coats of golden yellow with a dark 

 stripe down their backs. To those who might care 

 to keep these pretty little lizards, I may say that they 

 are easily kept in such receptacles as a fern-case or 

 an inverted propagating-glass, with a supply of water 

 for drinking purposes, and they may be fed on worms 

 or slugs. The little white slug so much detested by 

 florists and gardeners is a particularly favourite morsel 

 to them. — I am, &c., EoiN. 



Nether Lochaber, July 31, 1900. 



Sir, — In the ' Scotsman ' of yesterday your corre- 

 spondent " Eoin " appeals to me to say my say as to 

 the dimensions to which the adder grows in Scotland, 

 and I hasten to comply, for the subject is in many 

 respects an interesting one. 



The usual size of the ophidian in question is 

 from 18 to 22 inches. A 24-inch adder is a very 

 large one, and anything beyond 24 inches is ex- 

 tremely rare. The largest I ever saw — and I have 

 in my day seen hundreds of them — was sent to me 

 many years ago from lona by the Eev. Mr Eitchie, 

 the present minister of the parish of Creich in the 

 Presbytery of Dornoch. Mr Eitchie was then a 

 divinity student. This lona adder measured 27f 

 inches in length, and a larger one, it is my opinion, 

 was never seen in Scotland. 



The bottled adder in the possession of Mr Wood 

 z 



