30 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
The Cardiff ‘Western Mail’ gave still more details, 
and reported the occurrence thus :— 
“The residents of a house at Cefncaeau, near 
Llanelly, have undergone a very unpleasant experi- 
ence of late. It was reported by the sanitary 
inspector of the borough council on Friday that the 
place had become the domicile for innumerable snakes 
of all sizes and colours. They crawled over the floors, 
infested the cupboards, curled themselves together on 
the furniture, while some more aspiring members of 
the species climbed the stairs and luxuriated in the 
comforts of the bedrooms. The human occupants of 
the house had done their best to rid themselves of 
these unwelcome visitors, and had waged a war of 
extermination against them. The snakes continued to 
come, however, no fewer than twenty-two being 
slaughtered in one day, as the inspector explained. 
The sanitary committee listened to the recital of these 
facts with horror written on their faces, but took no 
action in the matter, being uncertain, probably, 
whether their jurisdiction extended to snakes. How- 
ever, the inspector will probably serve notice to quit 
upon them, failing compliance with which, more 
summary measures will be taken.” 
Most of the daily papers made some reference to the 
occurrence, the ‘Standard’ had a leading article on it, 
and the whole thing seemed so unique in the history 
of British snake-lore that 1 determined to investicate 
