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ADDER 
‘** There the slow Blind Worm left his slime 
On the fleet limbs that mocked at time.”’ 
Whereas, let it be stated here once again that the 
Slow, or Blind, Worm is not slow, not blind, not veno- 
mous, not eyeless, and not slimy. It may be repeated 
that it is not a Snake, that it is not harmful in any way, 
and that it is a legless Lizard. 
So much by way of brief introduction concerning the 
Class Repiilia, British representatives of which we may 
now proceed to consider. 
ORDER OPHIDIA, OR SERPENTS 
Adder.—Vipera berus (Fig. 1) Belongs to the Family 
Viperide, the whole of the members of which are 
poisonous. It is believed that all the species included in 
this Family produce their young alive. The Adder is 
found in various English Counties, and is commoner 
in Scotland than the Grass Snake. It is well distributed 
in certain parts of Wales, but is curiously absent from 
others. As already indicated, Snakes are not found 
in Ireland, although the species now under review occurs 
on one, or more, of the islands off the western seaboard 
of Scotland. The Adder is particularly plentiful in 
the New Forest, Hampshire. It haunts dry moors 
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