ADDER BEADS. 49 
in her family. The story of its finding is that a shepherd, she 
believes, in the parish of Closeburn, had observed a number of 
adders very fierce and very agile. He got alarmed, and hastened 
from the place, throwing off his plaid, which tradition says is a 
eood plan to divert the ferocious attack of either adders or weasels 
by taking up their attention for a while. Next morning he re- 
turned to the spot to discover that his plaid was pretty much 
eaten, or, as the old lady said, ‘‘ chattered.” The adders were 
gone, and while gazing on the knoll on which he had seen them 
he discovered this bead. The Tynron lady’s grandmother wore it 
around her neck as a charm or amulet. The same lady’s father 
once got the offer of £5 for it, which he refused. I may say that 
I have already been offered more than I paid for it. A Dumfries 
naturalist told me they were common, and that a friend of his had 
nearly a score, but on enquiring at aforesaid friend I found his 
were spindle whorls of stone. i believe they are very uncommon, 
at least in Dumfriesshire. There is not one in the Grierson 
museum, as you may judge from the catalogue. Looking at 
this bead, it might with more propriety be called a glass rine. 
The best account I find of them is in Brand’s ** Popular Antiquities,” 
vol. iii., p. 286, edition 1888. Pliny, the Roman writer, refers to 
them. Pennant, in his ‘* Zoology,” says the tradition is strong in 
Wales. The wondrous egg, or bead, was considered a potent 
charm with the Druids. It used to assist children in cutting their 
teeth, or to cure chincough, or to drive away an ague. Camden 
gives a plate of these beads, made of glass of a very rich blue 
colour, some of which are plain and others streaked. The ovwm 
anguinum, or Druid’s egg, has been frequently found in the Isle of 
Anglesey. It has been found in Cornwall and most parts of Wales. 
The Welsh name for them is serpent’s gems. Mr Lloyd says they 
are small glass annulets about half as wide as our finger rings, but 
much thicker, usually of a green colour, though some are blue and 
others curiously waved with blue, red, and white. Pliny says 
they are hatched by adders. These beads are not unfrequently 
found in burrows. Bishop Gibson engraved three found in Wales. 
In Brand’s ** Antiquities” no mention is made of them being found 
in Scotland. The tradition that they have been produced by 
serpents is current in all the districts in which they have been 
found, 
