168 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
This is a most pressing objection; for if it could be 
shown that the gullet of the adder is not capacious 
enough to contain the average number of young im an 
adder family, then there could be but little behef in 
the theory. Three factors are involved in this objec- 
tion :— 
4. The average number of young in a litter. 
B. The structural adaptabihty of the gullet for 
swallowing, 
C. The absolute cubic capacity of the gullet. 
A. The question of the average umber of the 
young has been discussed, and the conclusion stated 
that it is about thirteen. Here it is evident low 
important it is to have definite data to go upon. It 
is not sufficient to know that an adder could hold 
half-a-dozen young at a time in her eullet. If this is 
nature’s method of protecting them, the conditions 
must be such as will apply universally. Not that a 
small female adder must be able to hold in her gullet 
the largest litter of young adders that has been re- 
corded, but that an average-sized adder’s gullet must 
be capable of holding an average-sized adder’s family. 
LB. The question of the structural adaptability of 
the gullet to swallow the young may be dismissed 
with the remark that the gullet is adapted for swal- 
lowing very large articles of diet. This matter is also 
gone into im the consideration of adder anatomy, and 
presents no difficulty which can he said to apply to 
swallowing the young. 
oO 
