THE ZooLocisTt—APRiIL, 1876. 4885 
attitude, however, was of short duration, for as I got close it turned 
away again and attempted to make off. I gave it a tap with the handle of 
my entomological net, with an idea of retarding its progress, and was greatly 
surprised to see it writhe and soon die. It must be exceedingly fragile in 
constitution, or such a blow would not have killed it, as Iam sure adders 
have got off comfortably with a blow of double the force. This specimen 
I took, and preserved it in spirits; and, strange to say, the following day 
I saw another on a heath at no great distance, but that I did not disturb. 
The one I caught is a fine fellow, measuring twenty-one inches long, but 
is of a very slender build. ‘The lizard snake would not, I should imagine, 
be easily mistaken for either the common snake or adder, lacking, as it does, 
the white collar of the former, and the black vertebral decoration, together 
with the thickened and comparatively obtuse tail of the latter. The late 
lamented Canon Kingsley took great interest in this species, especially with 
regard to its occurrence in the New Forest, and wrote several times to me 
on the subject: he was under the impression that the lizard snake was 
found more commonly in the forest than is generally supposed, and was 
often seen and killed, in mistake for the adder, by the woodcutters or turf- 
eutters of the neighbourhood. For several seasons I searched and inquired 
closely for the reptile unsuccessfully ; but eventually a well-authenticated 
specimen occurred in the very heart of the forest, viz., in the garden at 
Minstead, of which I duly informed my very respected friend and corre- 
spondent.. I believe I saw another last season in a part of the forest some 
miles from where the one in question occurred, but I cannot speak positively 
on the point. Under any circumstances, its occurrence in the forest is now 
established ; but, so far as I have been able to ascertain, it is equally certain 
that it isa rare species. The spots where I caught my specimen and saw 
the other are not far from the old ground where, in 1854, the first British 
specimen was taken. The land is rather low and sandy, with stunted fir 
trees and an undergrowth ofheather and coarse grass; and perhaps the only 
reason why I had not made the acquaintance of the reptile previously is 
that I seldom visit the locality till the evening, when all respectable snakes 
have completed their sunny perambulations. Here, as in most places, there 
is great antipathy to all reptiles, which are indiscriminately slaughtered 
whenever an opportunity occurs. Why it should be so I can scarcely com- 
prehend, unless it is that from our earliest childhood we have been taught 
to shun the “old serpent,” and we well know how deeply rooted are our 
earliest impressions.—G@. B. Corbin. ab dt 
[It is now some years since the lizard-snake was first introduced to 
British naturalists by the ‘ Zoologist.’ My late lamented friend Dr. Gray 
was the earliest to record its occurrence in Britain, at page 6731 of the seven- 
teenth volume, and Mr. Bond records a second specimen at p. 6787 of the 
same volume; the first announcement is accompanied by a description from 
SECOND SERIES—VOL, XI. x 
