192 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
various estimates of the size of the young, as they 
are not actual measurements (unless so stated), but 
the recollections of judgments of length formed some 
years before the letters were written or the state- 
ments made. 
A word as to Tyrrell’s experiments, which carry 
ereat weight in the opinion of some. To my mind 
they only prove that- adders do not swallow their 
young in captivity, which personally I should never 
expect them to do even had I seen them do so ina 
state of nature, which I have not. Although reptile 
intelligence is by no means high, probably adders in 
a cage are quite conscious that they cannot carry 
their young away, and also that they are quite safe 
where they are, especially if the young have been 
born in the cage in question. 
The late Mr Tootal Broadhurst published a pamphlet 
some years avo which he was in the habit of cireu- 
lating among his acquaintances, in which he gave a 
list of people, with their statements, who had seen 
the swallowing process. The pamphlet was published 
by J. Maxwell & Sons, Dumfries, but I am informed 
by them that it is out of print. If I recollect 
rightly, Mr Broadhurst and his head-keeper were two 
of the witnesses, and statements were given from a 
dozen or so other persons. 
Other references have been made to the matter 
from time to time in the ‘ Field” ‘Rod and Gun, and 
other papers. 
