AND ANGLING SONGS. 359 



county which also lays unsettled claim to a new and distinct 

 species of the Colubridce the Coluber Dumfrisiensis. The ringed 

 snake is certainly more of a rarity north of the Tweed than the 

 adder. There is a specimen of it in the Museum at Kelso, 

 which, singular to say, was taken hold of on a market day, on 

 the staircase of the White Swan Inn, by a farmer from the neigh- 

 bourhood, under the impression that it was the thong of a hunting- 

 whip which had been dropped inadvertently. It being the com- 

 mon belief that all snakes are venomous, his alarm on finding 

 the supposed piece of plaited leather suddenly endowed with life 

 and motion may well be imagined. It did not, however, pre- 

 vent the capture of the reptile, which was committed, while still 

 alive, to the tender mercies of the custodier of the Museum, and 

 immersed, without further ceremony, in spirits of wine. In 

 accounting for its appearance, the probability is that it had been 

 conveyed in a torpid state to Kelso, inside of a piece of bog-turf, 

 or what is usually in Scotland called a peat or divot, of which 

 material a cart-load, it appears, had been shortly before deposited 

 in one of the cellars belonging to the inn, for the purpose of 

 being used as fuel or kindling. 



What I consider to have been the Lacerta agilis, or sand-lizard, 

 I have noticed more than once on the north bank of the Conon, 

 immediately below Loch Luichart. The forest remains, which 

 give character to the scenery of this Highland pass, have already 

 received notice (p. 153). A feature omitted to be mentioned, 

 which engages the eye, is the charred appearance of a consider- 

 able portion of the surface, and its occupation by ant-hills of 

 enormous size enormous, at least, in comparison with the general 

 run of these structures in other parts of our island. I do not 

 over-state their dimensions when I speak of them as rising seve- 

 rally to the height of two feet, from a base of as many yards in 

 circumference. The vegetation, in the shape of ferns, heaths, 

 and mosses, which is strewn here and there over the spot, linked 



