INTRODUCTION 



(Coronella austrtaca), is believed to be very rare, and whilst 

 in some districts the two remaining species (Adder and 

 Grass Snake) are plentiful, there are, as has been stated 

 previously, many places that are Snakeless regions, and 

 our own three species are confined to certain parts of 

 England, Scotland, and Wales. 



Being inhabitants of warm, or, at any rate, temperate 

 countries, our own changeable climate is apparently 

 unsuited for these disdained creatures of the wild, yet 

 Lizards do find a congenial home much further North 

 than Snakes, and at higher elevations. Further points 

 are dealt with under the hfe history of the three species 

 included hereafter, but it should be pointed out how much 

 original work requires to be done to enable us to piece 

 together the place these despised animals occupy in the 

 economy of life. For countless centuries Snakes have 

 been regarded with awe, fear, or superstition, and the 

 whole of this little volume could quite easily be filled with 

 quotations from poets and philosophers, as well as 

 scientists and sages, who have perpetrated sad errors 

 concerning them. Strange indeed that the Class Reptilia^ 

 coming as it does between our feathered bipeds on the 

 one hand and the amphibians on the other, should be 

 so looked down upon when, as a matter of scientific lore, 

 the reptiles are cousins of them both. Our earliest 

 known birds can be popularly referred to as Flying 

 Reptiles, for as such they are revealed by fossil remains 

 which the earth has yielded. These weird creatures 

 were devoid of feathers, had large bulbous eyes, great 



