SCOTLAND. 353 
The young are particularly handsome little things 
in their first coats of golden yellow with a dark 
stripe down their backs. To those who might care 
to keep these pretty little lizards, I may say that they 
are easily kept in such receptacles as a fern-case or 
an inverted propagating-glass, with a supply of water 
for drinking purposes, and they may be fed on worms 
or slugs. The little white slue so much detested by 
florists and gardeners is a particularly favourite morsel 
to them.—I am, &e,, Eon. 
Neruer Locuaper, July 31, 1900. 
Sirn,—tIn the ‘Scotsman’ of yesterday your corre- 
spondent “ Koin” appeals to me to say my say as to 
the dimensions to which the adder grows in Scotland, 
and I hasten to comply, for the subject is in many 
respects an interesting one. 
The usual size of the ophidian in question is 
from 18 to 22 inches. A 24-inch adder is a very 
large one, and anything beyond 24 inches is ex- 
tremely rare. The largest I ever saw—and I have 
in my day seen hundreds of them—was sent to me 
many years ago from Iona by the Rev. Mr Ritchie, 
the present minister of the parish of Creich in the 
Presbytery of Dornoch. Mr Ritchie was then a 
divinity student. This Iona adder measured 27} 
inches in length, and a larger one, it is my opinion, 
was never seen in Scotland. 
The bottled adder in the possession of Mr Wood 
Z 
