44 RAMBLES ROUND FOLKESTONE. 



the grass, and seek the cover of the thick bushes or 

 their subterranean retreats. Let no one then ever 

 be deterred from visiting the Warren by the fear of 

 meeting with either. 



The Grass Snake is perfectly harmless, and may 

 be handled without any possible danger ; it has no 

 venom, and if it wished to bite, which is highly im- 

 probable (I have taken hold of many), its teeth 

 would scarcely serve the purpose. What mir/ht pre- 

 vent your taking up a second specimen would be the 

 offensive odour which clings to the hand for some 

 time after. You may easily tell this species by the bright 

 yellow patches just behind the head, and the absence 

 of the dark zigzag mark along the back which 

 characterises its distant relation. 



The Viper, I grant, is dangerous to handle, though 

 not to the extent popularly supposed. It appears to 

 be still a disputed question whether any one has been 

 poisoned by a viper, and the poison has directly 

 proved fatal. I say directly, for it no doubt may be, 

 and has been an indirect cause of death ; as for 

 instance where a person has been bitten in the neck, 

 and the swelling has produced suffocation. But in 

 such a case we should hardly say that the man was 

 fatally poisoned by the viper ; similar consequences 

 have been known to result from the sting of a wasp. 

 I have never yet been able to meet with any well 

 authenticated instance of the poison of Pelias Bents 

 proving fatal in the same way as we should say that 

 of a Cobra would, that is, purely and simply from its 

 own nature. Yet almost every country churchyard 

 has its grave pointed out to children and strangers 

 as a caution against meddling with snakes and 



