53 



THE SMOOTH SNAKE. 



(Coronella Icevis. Boie.) 



THERE can be little doubt that this reptile has 

 been occasionally found in this country for many 

 years, although it is only recently that it has 

 received the name to which it appears to be 

 entitled, and therewith its true place in our 

 reptile fauna. It is somewhere about half a 

 century since Mr. Simmons caught a curious 

 little snake near Dumfries, which appeared to 

 differ so much from the common ringed snake 

 that Sowerby figured it in his " British Miscel- 

 lany/'* and called it the Dumfries snake (Coluber 

 Dumfrisiensis) . After this, the account and a 

 eopy of the figure appeared in London's " Maga- 

 zine of Natural History." f When Professor 

 Bell published his account of the British Reptiles, 

 he gave these particulars, but at the same time 



* Sowerby's " Miscellanies," iii. t. 3. f Vol. ii. p. 438. 



