48 The Natural History 



her mouth and admit her helpless young down her 

 throat on sudden surprises, just as the female opossum 

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

 like emergencies ; and yet the London viper-catchers 

 insist on^it, to Mr. Barrington, that no such thing ever 

 happens. The serpent kind eat, I believe, but once in a 

 year ; or rather, but only just at one season of the year. 

 Country people talk much of a water-snake, but I am 

 pretty sure, without any reason ; for the common snake 

 {coluber fiatrix) delights much to sport in the water, 

 perhaps with a view to procure frogs and other food. 



I cannot well guess how you are to make out your 

 twelve species of reptiles, unless it be by the various 

 species, or rather varieties, of our lacerti, of which Ray 

 enumerates five. I have not had an opportunity of 

 ascertaining these ; but remember well to have seen, 

 formerly, several beautiful green lacerti on the sunny 

 sandbanks near Farnham, in Surrey ; and Ray admits 

 there are such in Ireland. 



LETTER XVIII 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE 



Selborne, July 27, 1768. 

 Dear Sir, 



I received your obliging and communicative letter of 

 June the 28th, while I was on a visit at a gentleman's 

 house, where I had neither books to turn to, nor leisure 

 to sit down, to return you an answer to many queries, 

 which I wanted to resolve in the best manner that I am 

 able. 



A person, by my order, has searched our brooks, but 

 could find no such fish as the gasterosteus pufigitius : he 

 found the gasterosteus acideatus in plenty. This morning, 

 in a basket, I packed a little earthen pot full of wet 

 moss, and in it some sticklebacks, male and female ; the 

 females big with spawn : some lamperns ; some bulls 

 heads ; but I could procure no minnows. This basket 



