184 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
Letter 1.—“1 see you are seeking information 
through the local papers, asking, Do adders swallow 
their young? I think I can honestly say they do. I 
will write you an incident IT once saw with an adder. 
“IT was walking by the side of a small brook and I 
came in contact with an adder. Of course the first 
thing I did was to kill it. To my surprise there were 
three small adders close by, from 3 to 4 inches long. 
I smashed them up and turned iny attention to the 
old one, where I could see protruding from the mouth 
the tail of a little adder. I got it out; it was the same 
size as the other three. With the aid of two small 
sharp sticks I tore open the old adder and found two 
more of the same size inside. I should say the little 
ones all belonged to the same Jot. This happened 
quite twenty years ago. I never saw such a thing 
before or since, though I have killed several since. I 
have killed two adders this season.”—James Davies, 
Mill Farm, Welsh Newton, ur. Monmouth, July 23, 
1900. 
Letter 2.—* 1 can quite understand your desire for 
information 7e adders. I came across one on Ascot 
Heath many years ago; it was attempting to cross the 
road, out of some furze and heather. I don’t know if 
it was not wanton mischief on my part to try and kill 
it—however, I made for it with my stick. It made a 
hissing noise, and, to my surprise, seven simall—its 
own offspring, no doubt—ran to it and were de- 
