RINGED SNAKE. 57 



some country people in great consternation to my friend, 

 Dr. J. L. Drummond, I thought this might be one of those 

 alluded to ; and recently made inquiry of James Clealand, 

 Esq. of Ruth Gael House (county Down), twenty-five 

 miles distant in a direct line from Downpatrick, respecting 

 Snakes said to have been turned out by him ; I was fa- 

 voured by that gentleman with the following satisfactory 

 reply : ' The report of my having introduced Snakes into 

 this country is correct. Being curious to ascertain whether 

 the climate of Ireland was destructive to that class of rep- 

 tiles, about six years ago I purchased half a dozen of them 

 in Covent Garden Market in London ; they had been taken 

 some time, and were quite tame and familiar. I turned 

 them out in my garden ; they immediately rambled away ; 

 one of them was killed at Milecross,* three miles distant, 

 in about a week after its liberation ; and three others were 

 shortly afterwards killed within that distance of the place 

 where they were turned out; and it is highly probable 

 that the remaining two met with a similar fate, falling 

 victims to a reward which it appears was offered for their 

 destruction. 1 " 



Such is the most accurate and authentic account which 

 I have yet obtained respecting this curious fact in the geo- 

 graphical distribution of these animals ; and it certainly 

 does not appear that the failure of these attempts to intro- 

 duce Snakes into Ireland is to be attributed to anything 

 connected with the climate, or other local circumstances, 

 but rather to the prejudices of the inhabitants which led to 

 their destruction, nor is there reason to believe that their 

 absence from Ireland is other than purely accidental. 



That this immunity from reptile infestation was an an- 



* This was the one before alluded to, as having been brought to Dr. Drum- 

 mond. 



