eo 
ZI 
CHAPTER IV. 
SNAKES IN IRELAND IN 1900. 
On November 3, 1900, the following paragraph ap- 
peared in ‘Country Life’ :— 
“The services of another St Patrick will soon be 
required in Ireland if reptiles continue to turn up 
as they have been doing of late. Enin’s total im- 
munity from anything in the shape of a snake has 
been so remarkable that the appearance of two lately 
in County Wicklow has created quite a stir amongst 
naturalists. A few days since a snake measuring 
20 inches was killed on the estate of Sir Robert 
Hodson at Hollybrooke, Bray, and just before another 
was killed on the property of Dr Thompson, near 
Delgany. These were at first thought to be venomous 
vipers, but when experts saw them they were pro- 
nounced to be the common harmless snake. The 
only solution of their presence in the snakeless island 
is that they were brought across Channel in a con- 
signment of shrubs which lately arrived at Holly- 
brooke. The absence of reptiles from Ireland is a 
