THE RING SNAKE, 35 
make all these details clear, and show that the 
approach to the row is open on three sides. The 
houses were built some sixty-eight years avo, and were 
in bad repair at the time. No. 2 was the house where 
the snakes appeared in such numbers. The woman 
who oceupied it one day saw a small snake on the 
hearthstone right in front of the fire. The next day 
she saw several dropping down from a small hole vn the 
wall, about 2 feet from the ground-floor. They then 
made a search and found a dozen more, and avain in 
another place found several small ones. The tenant 
then complained that the place was unhealthy, and 
left, having first reported this extraordinary state of 
5D 
affairs. Some weeks later the sanitary inspector was 
looking over some repairs to this particular house. 
The back wall was taken down and also the oven, but 
nothing reptilian was seen, until on removing the 
debris the inspector saw a small snake and promptly 
secured it. This specimen was forwarded to me for 
identification. 
Such are the facts as I first got them, and as there 
were several points which struck ime as reqiiring a 
little further elucidation, I wrote to Mr Lewis, of 
No. 10 Cefneaeau Row, for further information. In 
reply to my questions Mr Lewis kindly gave me the 
following additional details concerning the snakes in 
the immediate neighbourhood. 
In the next house to the one above referred to, a 
large specimen, 2 feet 3 inches long, had been killed 
C 
