72 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



open her mouth, and admit her helpless young down he 

 throat on sudden surprises, just as the female opossui 

 does her brood into the pouch under her belly, upon th 

 like emergencies ; and yet the London viper-catchers insi: 

 on it, to Mr. Barringlon, that no such thing ever happens 



1 Sir William Jardine's note in his edition of "Selborne" is as follows : "Tl 

 question remains, we believe, nearly as it did in White's time. There have bei 

 statements upon both sides, and some time since it gave rise to a very long di 

 cussion in the Gardener's Chronicle, but which, with the others, ended in nothii 

 that could be taken as undoubted proof of the fact. We have always looked up< 

 this as a popular delusion, and the supposed habit is so much at variance wi 

 what we know of the general manners and instincts of animals that, without 

 doubted proof of its occurrence, we incline still to consider it as such. Somethii 

 always occurs to prevent the adder that has swallowed her young being capture 

 and the evidence rests on such an one having seen the young enter the mou 

 of the parent. Now, we do not mean to call in question the veracity of tl 

 observers reporting what they at the time believed to be the case, but we knc 

 how easy it is to be deceived, and how difficult it is to observe correctly. W 

 Bennett leaves the question open; but in the latest edition of 'Selborne,' 

 Bohn's Illustrated Library, the following note by the editor occurs : ' Havii 

 taken much pains to ascertain the fact of young vipers entering the mouth of the 

 mother, I can now have little doubt but that such is the case, after the eviden 

 of persons who assured me that they had seen it. I also found young vipers 

 the stomach of the mother of a much larger size than they would be when fii 

 ready to be excluded.' We presume that the young vipers in the stomach of ti 

 mother were found alive ; it is not so stated. Could the Zoological Society n 

 do something to solve this problem? A comparatively trifling expense wou 

 procure a good collection of adders were it known they were wanted, and amoi 

 them a female might be found and watched. See also Mr. White's remark 

 Letter XXXI, to Mr. Barrington, where he cut up an adder, and found youi 

 in the 'abdomen,' by which term he evidently means the uterus or ovarium, 1 f 

 he adds, ' there was little room to suppose they were taken in for refuge.' Lett 

 XXXI should be turned to and read with this one to Pennant " (p. 53). 



Professor Bell contributed the following observation to Mr. Bennett's editic 

 of "Selborne," and reproduces it in a note to his own edition (p. 54 note) : " 

 have been assured by a very honest and worthy gardener in Dorsetshire that 1 

 had seen the young vipers enter the mouth of the mother when alarmed. I ha' 

 never been able to obtain further reliable evidence of the fact, though I ha 

 made the most extensive inquiries in my power. If it be untrue, the popular en- 

 may have arisen from the fact of fully-formed young having been found in tl 

 abdomen of the mother, ready to be excluded." "Surely," says Bell, "the e 

 periment might be tried, and the question set at rest." Frank Buckland in I 

 edition of " Selborne " ridicules the idea of the young vipers seeking refuge fro 

 danger in the mouth of the mother, and an amusing skit on the subject is pr 

 vided by the late Harry Lee. A few years ago I contributed a weekly article 

 Lloyd's newspaper on natural history. These popular sketches were written 1 



i Oviduct. [W. P. P.] 



