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CHAPTER XXXII. 
SCOTLAND. 
Ir is unnecessary in the case of Scotland to consider 
the various biological provinces in detail, because, as 
far as British serpents are concerned, there is practi- 
cally only one species found over the whole of the 
country, and that is the adder. The rine snake is 
occasionally reported in the extreme south-east, in 
Roxburghshire and Berwickshire, but never commonly 
even here. About 20 inches is a very usual length 
for the adder everywhere, though large specimens are 
taken now and then. The ophidian distribution in 
Scotland is probably a matter of climate more than 
anything else, and the adder has, among its other 
characteristics, a greater capacity for standing cold 
than the ring snake. Its period of hibernation does 
not seem to be any longer in the northern clime, as 
it is generally to be seen in Sutherland as soon even 
as March, which is quite as early as most of the 
southern counties in England. The black variety 
of the adder is found in Scotland more frequently 
