68 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
have observed that adders do likewise, and the fact 
that one often finds portions of sloughs in snaky places 
proves that the habit of swallowing them is by no 
means invariable. The ring snake is very irregular in 
Fic. 11.—Eye-covertxc or ADDER. 
the matter of sloughing, oceasionally going through 
the process as often as five times in a season, with 
longer or shorter intervals between the different 
sloughings. Young rine snakes and young adders 
always cast their first slouzh very soon after birth. 
The process begins at the head, the cuticle being 
