226 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



never did. The common snake lays her eggs in a dunghill, where 

 they are hatched by the heat ; but the young of the viper, which is 

 the only venomous English snake, are either brought forth alive, or 

 come from the membranes of the eggs very soon after the latter are 

 laid. The matter is shrouded in some little mystery. It is a story 

 very continually asserted, and very widely believed, that the young 

 vipers will rush into the mouth of their dam for safety when alarmed, 

 but no satisfactory evidence has ever been produced in proof of 

 this assertion. 



6 There is but one species of frog in England, and two species 

 of toads. All lay their eggs in the water, and pass through the tad- 

 pole state, before becoming perfect reptiles. Every country boy is 

 familiar with the masses of frogs' spawn in the ditches, and the 

 swarm of tadpoles which issue thereout. Any one who has been 

 kept awake by the croaking of frogs in a marsh at night, as I have 

 been, will never forget it. A disturbed rookery is nothing to it. 

 The frog's mouth does not grow up, as stated by Walton in his next 

 paragraph. 



PRACTICAL ESSAY. 



THE PIKE. 



Much has been written about the pike, but I have read nothing 

 of late years which described its habits and habitats so well as the 

 ancient treatise of Robert Nobbs, Esq., A.M., who wrote "The Art 

 of Trolling" in the year 1682. He says : 



" The harbour of a pike is generally amongst or near a bank 

 weeds, for they are his chief refuge j and if he be frightened by 



; 



