THE ADDER. OR VIPER 



555 



pierce a \'ein the \-enom will be in the 

 circulation almost instantaneously, and 

 Uttle can be done beyond keeping up the 

 heart's action by stimulants. The old- 

 fashioned remedy was to make the patient 

 drunk, or to try to. It is, of course, 

 preferable that drugs like strychnine or 



seemed none the worse. On the downs 

 Adders generally retire from \-iew during 

 the hot hours of the day, and in the 

 woods in tliis district (West Kent) such 

 Adders as I have encountered ha\'e been 

 almost in\'ariably in the shade of gorse 

 or bracken. A gorse bush which sweeps 



sal- volatile should be employed ; but as the ground is a likely place for an Adder's 

 it is extremely improbable that any- cast-off skin. 



thing of the kind will be at hand. The average length of the mature 



small successive doses of strong alcohol Common Adder is about twenty inches, an 

 will naturall}- and properly suggest them- Adder two feet long being very large, and 

 selves. Should the bite, as is far the anything over that a giant, or, rather, 

 most likeh', miss a 

 vein, the venom will 

 have to pass through 

 the l}Tnphatics and 

 blood vessels before it 

 reaches the general cir- 

 culatory system. In this 

 case there wiU probabl}' 

 be time to tie a hgature 

 (rubber for choice, a 

 twisted bicycle tube for 

 want of anything better) 

 above the wounded part, 

 and to check the inflow 

 of poison by a free in- 

 cision into the wound 

 or wounds. 



The local application 

 of powerful oxidisers. 

 such as permanganate of 

 potash, has been sug- 

 gested on the ground 

 that such oxidisers 

 destroy or weaken the 

 action of the venom. It 

 must be remembered, however, that these 

 are not selective in action, and that they 

 w'iU oxidise anything oxidisable with 

 which they come in contact. The remedy 

 in this case might be worse than the 

 disease. 



Adders are generally distributed in 

 Great Britain, though some counties 

 appear to be especially favoured. It is 

 generally supposed that they prefer hot. 

 dry situations. In the sense that they 

 enjoy heat this is true, but they do not 

 enjoy the sun-bath which appeals to the 

 lizard. I remember my surprise at find- 

 ing an Adder, whose glass-roofed cage angles generalh- include black spots. In 

 I had thoughtlessly left where the sun the Red Adder the zigzag is terra-cotta 

 could reach it, killed by the heat, while on a brick-red ground. The course of tliis 

 a common hzard, who kept him compan}-, line can be easily seen in some of my 



THE RED ADDER. 



This well-marked variety apparently never exceeds a foot in length (the speci- 

 men photographed was eleven inches). Its coloration consists of two 

 shades of terra-cotta It seems to be more square in section than the 

 common type — and, according to most observers, more vicious ! 



giantess, for exceptionally large snakes are 

 almost invariably females. The Red Adder, 

 wliich Professor Leighton seems inclined 

 to consider a distinct species, is decidedly 

 smaller. None of the three specimens 

 which I have obtained has l)een over a 

 foot, and all of tliem were decidedly more 

 rectangular in section than the common 

 t\-pe. The markings of the normal Adder 

 are highly characteristic, and serve at 

 once to distinguish him from either of the 

 other British snakes. The most prominent 

 feature in his coloration is the zigzag 

 black hne on his back, whose re-entrant 



