A GERMAN VIEW OF THE FAUNA OF IRELAND. 347 
ed., Lond. 1658, p. 73), remarks :—‘“‘ Sed inter vere miranda non 
omittendum, Hiberniam non gignere venenatum quicquam nec 
alere aliunde invectum, habere tamen araneas et lacertas, sed eas 
non venenatus.” 
St. Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish (born in Scotland in 372), 
is said to have found the island teeming with snakes, and to have 
banished them all at his word. They were all driven into Lough 
Napeastia (Lough-na-Peiste), or Snake Lake, in the district of 
Glendalough. Since then the lake has been shunned, and no 
one ventures to bathe 
* Tn that lake, whose gloomy shore 
Sky Lark never warbles o'er.” 
A particularly large snake used often to crawl out of the water 
and entreat St. Patrick to allow him a little freedom. The Saint 
appointed a place for him; but one of the celebrated “seven 
churches” being begun soon after, within the area allotted to the 
snake, the latter made itself very objectionable by knocking down 
the masonry every night. It was banished into the depths, but still 
does harm under the name of “Irish crocodile.” For Roderic 
O'Flaherty, in his ‘Description of West or H’Iar Connaught,’ 
1684 (edited by Hardiman, Dublin, 1846, p. 19), relates the 
following of Lough Orbsen, now generally called Lough Corrib, 
and celebrated for its eels and salmon-trout :—“‘ On the south side 
of the lake are medicinal leeches. There is also a strange 
creature, which we will call the Irish crocodile; and about ten 
years ago a certain man, who is still living, had a very unpleasant 
adventure with this animal. The man was walking along the 
shore, and saw in the distance the head of some beast. He took 
it for an Otter, and thought no more about it; but the beast 
raised its head and looked at the man, dived under and swam till 
in shallow water, then suddenly rushed out and seized him by 
the elbow till he stooped down, when it fixed its teeth in his 
head and dragged him away towards the lake. Fortunately the 
man got hold of a stone that was lying there, and remembering 
he had a knife in his pocket, drew it out and stabbed the beast, 
so that it let go its hold and disappeared in the lake. The water 
round him was red with blood, though whether from himself or 
the monster, or both, he could not tell. He described the animal 
to be the size of a greyhound, with black sliiny skin and no hair. 
