80 THE SNAKE AND ADDER. 
seems generally supposed, but from a white excrementitious sub- 
stance which they emit. The viper, relying on his formidable 
fangs for defence, makes no unpleasant smell. The country folk 
about Wisley, in Surrey,—my most frequent ‘‘ hunting-ground ”’ 
for reptiles,—say that a snake’s cast skin bound tightly round 
the head is a remedy for headache. These cast skins, which may 
frequently be found about their haunts, are very curious, as even 
the hard transparent substance with which all reptiles are pro- 
vided for the defence of the eyes when swimming is shed with the 
skin. This transparent substance can be put up at the creature’s 
will, and when notin use is folded in the lower eyelid. The 
glossy black tongue of the snake is rather longer than that of the 
viper. I need not insult readers by saying it is not a “sting.” 
I fancy it is of use as a feeler, since the animal has no limbs.* 
The distance between the two extremities of the fork is about 
equal to the thickness of the reptile’s body, and may be of use, 
like the whiskers of the cat, in letting it know whether it can get 
into a hole or not. The usual length of the snake is about three 
feet, but they often exceed this, 
The Virrr, or as it is almost always called by country people, 
the Apprr, inhabits dry heaths, glades in woods, and upland 
copses. It is seldom to be found near water. Its average length 
is twenty-three inches. I have often found them where 
furze has been lately cut, and it is hard to tell them from the 
furze stalks lying about. They evidently choose such places to 
sun themselves in, from the difficulty of being distinguished in 
them. Were we as well acquainted with their habits as we 
ought to be, we should doubtless know of many similar proofs of 
sagacity, which would enable us to appreciate our Lord’s command 
‘Be wise as serpents.” The adder is plentiful in the woods 
round Wycombe, and on the neighbouring heaths and commons. 
Mr. Ullyett has met with it most frequently in Dane Garden 
wood, and on what, alas! was Wycombe Heath. Adders vary 
much ia colour, but the colours do not denote different species, 
and even seem to change periodically in the same individual. 
* Although serpents have no exterior legs, their ribs are moveable, and are 
not fixed to the breast bone, so that they are, in fact, interior legs. 
