8s BRITISH SERPENTS. 
in the eullet. It has a bearing, too, on the swallowing 
of the young, which will be referred to again. If a 
frog can remain alive in the gullet for some time, why 
not young adders ? 
The illustration opposite shows one of the most 
interesting specimens in my collection. I was look- 
ing for a gravid slow-worm in an old quarry a mile 
from my house, and on turning over a large flat 
slab of stone about 2 feet square, was much sur- 
prised to see a large adder in the act of swallowing 
a slow-worm. <A very one-sided engagement ended 
in the total defeat of the adder (he was severely 
handicapped by being in the middle of dinner), and 
I photographed him on the spot, dinner included. 
The adder is a male 25) inches long, and one of the 
best marked in my colleetion, and the largest male T 
have seen. The slow-worm is evidently a young one, 
and about 4 inches of it is protruding from the adder’s 
jaws, firmly held there hy the recurved teeth. 
In all probability an adder would take any ain- 
phibian as food, if mice and slow-worms were not 
to be had. 1 have never actually found any in 
their stomachs, but T have captured adders in eir- 
cumstances which Jooked very dangerous for some 
newts that were near. On one oecasion (i6th May 
1898) IT was on the Tump, Ewyas Harold, Hereford- 
shire, with a frend, when we came upon a_ large 
female adder coiled up on the top stone of a heap. 
Having killed the adder, we turned over the stone 
