THE ADDER. 183 
o. “T just wish to say that three or four different 
persons, in describing to me what they have seen, 
have been unanimous in saying that the old one 
raised her head slightly (that would be just clear of 
the ground) and the young ones jumped or sprang 
down the throat. They tell me that the young did not 
glide down on the level of the ground. This striking 
unanimous and quite independent testimony seems to 
me to be somewhat significant. I may mention that 
my brother-in-law tells me he had a correspondence 
on this subject some years ago in ‘Science Gossip,’ in 
which he mentioned my viper - shooting experience. 
I don’t know the year, and I never saw the corre- 
Eythorne, 9th August 1900. 
spondence.” 
I owe many other very interesting letters ou the 
habits of adders to Mr Jacob, some of which are 
quoted elsewhere, but these are the most important 
on the swallowing question. In the summer of 1900 
I asked for information on the point from eye- 
witnesses, by means of a letter inserted in the press 
of Hereford and Monmouth, in both of which localities 
adders are common. In response to my appeal I 
received a large number of replies by letter, and other 
people made statements to me afterwards which I 
wrote down at the time. Some of these letters and 
statements I now append. The letters are quoted 
verbatim, the statements in the words used in writing 
them down at the time they were made. 
