SNAKES IN IRELAND IN 1900. 39 
circumstance which it is hard to account for—if we 
are not believers in the snake-destroyiug reputation 
of Iveland’s patron saint. That some nations have 
an exalted opinion of Irish soil as a warner-off of 
snakes is well known, and one Irishman in Australia 
went so far as to import a cargo of earth, which he 
had strewed over his garden to prevent reptiles 
visiting it.” 
Commenting on the above paragraph, the ‘ Out- 
look’ on November 10, 1900, said :— 
“Until the last week or so we had always supposed 
that Ireland was free from snakes. But according 
to a paragraph in ‘Country Life’ this week, two 
specimens of the common British ring snake have 
found their way there, and perished as the result of 
their effort to upset St Patrick’s decree of banish- 
ment. One was killed on the estate of Sir Robert 
Hodson at Hollybrooke, Bray. The other had been 
previously killed on the property of Dr Thompson, 
near Deleany. The theory advanced to account for 
their presence is that they crossed over from England 
in a bundle of shrubs. This is possible enough, 
though it is more usual for the eggs to be carried 
about from place to place than the reptiles them- 
selves.” 
Curiously enough, I saw the quotation from 
‘Country Life’ the day after I had written on my 
solitary Monnow Valley ring snake for this work 
(see p. 12). Naturally [ was very anxious to get 
