208 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
tioned never being found in the ordinary male adder. 
The question therefore arises, Are all these so-called 
small red vipers simply young female adders? This 
could only be settled by obtaining specimens of 
this colour of both sexes. I had long believed in 
the distinctness of the small red viper from the adder, 
from its constancy in size and colour, but had never 
taken a male specimen until the 26th April 1901. I 
was at that time investigating the Ophidia of Central 
Dorset, and on the day mentioned took a specimen 
locally known as the httle viper. It was the usual 
red colour, but a glance at the tail at once showed 
it to be a male. I demonstrated the male organs to 
the Rev. F. W. Brandreth, to whom I am indebted for 
the opportunity of examining that most snaky neigh- 
bourhood. The length of the specimen was 124 
inches. This viper is well known in that locality, 
though of much less frequent occurrence than the 
ordinary adder, which is abundant. The male adder 
there is pale-grey with very black markings and 
bluish-black belly, not in the least like the small 
red viper. 
Moreover, if the red viper were a young female 
adder, a large number of specimens ought to show 
the gradations of the one passing into the other. This 
is not seen in any of the hundreds of female adders I 
have examined. 
Distribution.—On account of its infrequent oceur- 
rence, and the absence of authentic county records, it 
