502 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
latitude of the continent, to Italy and Sicily ;” and Cook’s 
statement in “Our Reptiles” (eds. 1865 and 1895) runs 
thus: “In Britain it is far more common in the south than 
in the north; some have even had the temerity to deny its 
occurrence in Scotland, but apparently without good founda- 
tion.” “Of Scottish snakes ”, writes the late John Gibson in 
Jack’s “Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland ”, “ there are two—the 
viper and the ringed snake. The latter is of extremely rare 
occurrence in Scotland, although very common in England.” 
The last quotation I shall make is from Mr R. Service's 
article, on the “Natural History of Kirkcudbrightshire,” 
in Maxwell’s “Guide” to that county (1888 ed.): “The 
Ringed Snake”, he there writes, “is very rare so far as our 
experience goes.” With reference to this remark, Mr Service 
informs me that he has not so far been able to obtain a wild 
specimen, dead or alive, from this side of the Borders. But 
he has so often heard ef Snakes (not Adders) in a certain 
very suitable part of the Scottish Solway area, that, although 
satisfactory proof is still wanting, he would not be surprised 
to find an indigenous example there any day. Snakes were, 
he believes, largely introduced at Billholm, Langholm, in 
1867, by Mr Bell. 
After carefully censidering the above evidence, I have 
come to the conclusion that, although probably at one time a 
native of the lowlands of Scotland (including the Lothians), 
the Ringed Snake does net now exist there as an indigenous 
animal. As an escape, or an introduced species, it may, no 
doubt, now and again manage to establish itself in a way, 
but only, I fear, for a comparatively brief period at the best.t 
Two examples, which we may be sure were escapes or 
their direct descendants, have quite recently been captured 
within the suburbs of Edinburgh, one on a footpath by a 
wall near Haymarket in July 1892, and the other in a villa- 
1 Since the above paragraph was written, Mr Eagle-Clarke has kindly 
drawn my attention to the following statement in The Scottish Journal of 
Natural History, 1890, p. 105, which I insert here for what it is worth :— 
“‘ While walking in the woods near Carluke, on the 8th April, I came upon 
a couple of grass snakes ( 7ropidonotus natria). 'This seems an early date for 
these snakes being seen in this district, where they are decidedly uncommon. 
—M. A. H. W., Hiilhead.” . 
