ON THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTEES OF BRITISH 



SNAKES. 



By the Rev. THOMAS PHILLIPPS, M.A. 



In our walk across the usually boggy mountain side from Penwylt to 

 the Scwd Hen Khyd waterfall, on our Ladies' day in July, two or three of 

 these reptiles were picked up by some of the more adventurous members of our 

 party, and exhibited to the rest of the Club. I was then so much surprised 

 at the mistaken remarks which I heard made on several sides as to what was 

 their nature and even their name, Vipers being called Snakes, and Snakes 

 Blindworms, that I determined to brush up my old experiences respecting them, 

 and to make the attempt to point out what the distinctive marks and peculi- 

 arities of these reptiles are. 



There are only three British (so called) Snakes, and they are — 

 1st. The Viper or Adder (Pelias Berus). 



2nd. The common Grass Snake or Ring Snake { Tropidonotus Natrix), 

 And .3rd. The Blind-worm or Slow-worm (Anrjuis FragiUs). 

 First with regard to the Viper, often locally called Adder. It ia 

 the only one of the three which possesses a poison-fang, and fortunately, too, 

 it is the least common of the three. It is now, in fact, rarely found in England, 

 excejjt in unfrequented, and generally boggy localities, such as the Cambridge- 

 shire and Lincolnshire fens, where, in my younger days, I killed and examined 

 a great many. A good deal of the country around Penwylt is not very dissi- 

 milar from what these fens, in my Cambridge days were, although many of 

 them now are thriving corn-fields. The bite of the Viper is seldom fatal 

 where assistance can be had and proper remedies applied ; but I remember 

 two or three cases where men had been working alone in the fens far away 

 from house or home, that did terminate fatally, and as is usual, in such cases, 

 under very painful circumstances. 



The Viper belongs to the great order, Ophidiw, to the sub-order 

 Viperidse, and the genus Pelias Berus. As it relates to unscientific observers 

 one great mark of distinction between it and the Snake is, what is con- 

 sidered to be, the figure of a V upon the top of its head : formed, I believe, 

 by a raised nose between the two inflated glands, one on each side of the head. 



Another mark by which a Viper may generally be known is, a fine and 

 somewhat elegantly-sluiped neck, which contrasts strongly with its flat and 

 ugly head. 



