PREFACE. 
I trust no apology will be considered necessary for 
this attempt to sketch the life-history and distribution 
of British Serpents somewhat more fully than has yet 
been done in any one volume. I should certainly not 
have ventured to publish a book on so limited a sub- 
ject were it not that for the last few years I have 
been honoured with the correspondence of a very 
large number of field-naturalists in all parts of the 
country, who sought information on one or other 
point of this much-neglected branch of British fauna. 
That correspondence has been a source of very great 
pleasure to me, and I trust it will not cease on ac- 
count of my effort in these pages to answer most of 
the queries raised. Rather I hope that those already 
interested may be induced to inquire more carefully 
into the habits of this most fascinating group. 
