50 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
vermin. One only, however, proved to be worth pre- 
serving, the other having been too much damaged in 
the anxiety of the slayer to ensure its destruction, 
“By the additional records of its occurrence in the 
pages of the ‘ Zoologist, not only is its authenticity 
as a British species more than fully established, but 
its recent comparative frequency (in my own district 
at least) is undoubted. During the past summer 
(1885) I have seen it several times, capturing it twice. 
On each of these occasions a slight tap near, but not 
on, the head appeared to paralyse it, as it seemed for 
some time quite dead, though on reaching home some 
hours afterwards it had quite recovered and was as 
lively as ever. The first of these two was put into 
a roomy cage with glazed sides and perforated zine 
cover, and a clod of heather to bask upon in the 
sun, or to conceal itself under, Thus, attended to by 
one of my sons, and furnished with a small vessel 
of water and a few bluebottle flies per diem, it lived 
from June till the beginning of September, always 
active, retaining its plump well-to-do appearance, and 
changing its skin once. It beeame also very tame 
and docile: if lying under its piece of turf, it would, 
on hearing my son whistle or eall it, come out at 
once and rear itself on its tail as if to enjoy a little 
conversation. One day, however, it managed for the 
second time to push aside with its nose a small ven- 
tilating-shde at the side of the eage, and the door 
of the room being also open, it made its escape into 
