256 BRITISH SERPENTS. 
“The ring snake is vetting scarcer year by year. 
The largest ones found are, as a rule, about 30 inches 
long. 
“The smooth snake does not occur in this neigh- 
bourhood.”’—Rev. Gregory C. Bateman, Low Down, 
R.S.0., Devon. 
Somerset. 
“The ring snake is the commonest snake in the 
lowlands; in the higher lands (Mendip) the adder is 
the more frequent. We rarely find the adder in the 
low-lying lands bordering the moors. On the slopes 
both are met with, the ring snake being the more 
numerous. On the top of Mendip, which is nearly 
1000 feet up, one rarely finds the ring snake, while 
the adder is common; and T have come across them 
many a time coiled up in the sun under the firs. 
The full-grown adder averages 27 inches long, the 
full-grown ring snake 5 feet. The smooth snake does 
not occur, as far as I know.’—H. E. Balch, W. Laura 
Place, Wells. 
“Tn the neighbourhood of Glastonbury rine snakes 
are plentiful, the largest I have ineasured being 3 feet 
5 inches. Adders are met with among the peat- 
cuttings and low-lying parts of Mid-Somerset. The 
largest I have seen was 2 feet 2 inches. There are 
a number of adders on the Quantock Hills: my 
brother killed one there about 12 inches long, and 
a labourer passing by told us that was about the 
