Apdeu Heads. 49 



ill lior family. The story of its iiuding- is that a shepherd, slio 

 believes, iu the parish of C'loseburn, liad observed a number of 

 adders very fierce and very agile. He got alarmed, and hastened 

 from the place, throwing off his plaid, which traiiition says is a 

 good plan to divert the ferocious attack of either adders or weasels 

 by taking up their attention for a while. Next morning he re- 

 turned to the spot to discover that his plaid was pretty much 

 eaten, or, as the old lady said, '• chattered." The adders were 

 gone, and while gazing on the knoll on which he had seen them 

 he discovered this bead. The Tynron lady's grandmother wore it 

 around her neck as a charm or amulet. The same lady's father 

 once got the offer of £o for it, which he refused. I may say that 

 I have already been offered more than I paid for it. A Dumfries 

 naturalist told me they were common, and that a friend of his had 

 nearly a score, but on enquiring at aforesaid friend I found his 

 were spindle whorls of stone. I believe they are very uncommon, 

 at least in Dumfriesshire. There is not one in the Grierson 

 museum, as you may judge from the catalogue. Looking at 

 this bead, it might with more propriety be called a glass ring. 

 The best account I find of them is in Brand's '' Popular Antiquities." 

 vol. iii., p. 28G, edition 1888. Pliny, the Roman writer, refers to 

 them. Pennant, in his " Zoology," says the tradition is strong in 

 Wales. The wondrous egg, or bead, was considered a potent 

 charm with the Druids. It used to assist children in cutting their 

 teeth, or to cure chincough, or to drive away an ague. Camden 

 gives a plate of these beads, made of glass of a very rich blue 

 colour, some of which are plain and others streaked. The onmi 

 aufjuinuni, or Druid's eg'g, has been frequently found in the Isle of 

 Anglesey. It has been found iu Cornwall and most parts of Wales. 

 The "Welsh name for them is serpent's r/ems. Mr Lloyd says they 

 are small glass annulets about half as wide as our finger rings, but 

 much thicker, usually of a green colour, though some are blue and 

 othei-s curiously waved with blue, red, and white. Pliny says 

 they are hatched by adders. These beads are not unfrequently 

 found in burrows. Bishop Gibson engraved three found in Wales. 

 In Brand's " Antiquities " no mention is made of them being found 

 in Scotland. The tradition that they have been produced by 

 serpents is current in all the districts in which they have been 

 found. 



