44 



NATU11AL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



none of them were advanced so far towards a state of maturity as to 

 contain any rudiments of young. Though they are oviparous, yet they 



are viviparous also, hatch- 

 ing their young within their 

 bellies, and then bringing 

 them forth. Whereas snakes 

 lay chains of eggs every 

 summer in my melon beds, 

 in spite of all that my 

 people can do to prevent 

 them ; which eggs do not 

 hatch till the spring fol- 

 lowing, as I have often ex- 

 perienced. Several intelli- 

 gent folks assure me that 

 they have seen the viper 

 open 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 natrix) 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 opportunity of 



BLIND WORM. 



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

 have been statements upon both sides, and some tune since it gave rise to a very 

 long discussion in the " Gardener's Chronicle," but which, with the others, ended 

 in nothing that could be taken as undoubted proof of the fact. We have always 

 looked upon this as a popular delusion, and the supposed habit is so much at 

 variance with what we know of the general manners and instincts of animals 

 that, without undoubtedproofofiis occurrence, we incline still to consider it as such. 

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

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

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

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

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

 leaves the question open ; but in the latest edition of " Selborne," in Bonn's Illus- 

 trated Library, the following note by the editor occurs : " Having taken much 

 pains to ascertain the fact of young vipers entering the mouth of their mother, I can 

 now have little doubt but that such is the case, after the evidence of persons who 

 assured me that they had seen it. I also found young vipers in the stomach of 

 the* mother of a much larger size than they would be when first ready to be 

 excluded." We presume that the young vipers in the stomach of the mother were 

 found alive ; it is not so stated. Could the Zoological Society not do something to 

 solve this problem? A comparatively trifling expense would procure a good 

 collection of adders were it known they were wanted, and among them a female 

 might be found and watched. See also Mr. White's remarks, Letter XXXI., to 

 Mr. Barrington, where he cut up an adder, and found young in the "abdomen," 

 by which term he evidently means the uterus or ovarium, for he adds, "there was 

 little room to suppose they were taken in for refuge." Letter XXXI. should bo 

 turned to and read with this one to Pennant. 



