A PLAGUE OF SNAKES.^ 27 



of the reptiles being in such numbers made it most probable that 

 the Common Ring- Snake (or Grass-Snake) was the intruder. 

 However, to set the matter beyond all doubt, I requested Mr. 

 Thomas to send me the specimen he caught for identification. 

 This he kindly did, and it turned out to be, as I expected, 

 Tropidonotiis natrix (the Eing-Snake). It measured 7|- in. in 

 length, and was a young one, probably hatched out about the 

 middle of August. As there was no suggestion that more than 

 one kind of Snake participated in the visitation, this settled that 

 point. The next question is — where did they come from ? If 

 one thinks for a moment of the natural habits of this our Common 

 Snake, it is not difficult to see how it could easily happen that a 

 large number might suddenly make their appearance. The 

 Grass-Snake is oviparous, depositing its eggs, sometimes to the 

 number of three dozen or more, in any convenient rubbish-heap, 

 or manure, there leaving them to the action of the sun and 

 moisture to be hatched out. They are deposited in the spring, 

 and hatch out either in the autumn, or, as not infrequently hap- 

 pens, remaining over the winter unhatched, and developing only 

 the following spring. In this case they evidently hatched in the 

 autumn, early in September. 



Probably the haunt of the parents at Llanelly is in the old 

 quarry referred to. A bunch of eggs could vei-y easily be carried 

 into the house in some faggots, and there lie unheeded till 

 hatched out, and then suddenly a " plague of Snakes" appears. 

 From the fact that as many as twenty-two were taken in the one 

 dwelling, this seems to have been the case, as it is unlikely that 

 so many would have made their way into one house, unless born 

 in it. Moreover, I am informed that all were about the same 

 size, which further points to their origin being from one bunch of 

 eggs. It is quite possible that the eggs were deposited by the 

 parent behind the oven, or in a hole in the back wall, and there 

 lay undisturbed during the period of development. 



On taking down a further portion of the wall, no fewer than 

 forty bundles of eggs were found, each bundle containing thirty 

 eggs, out of each of which a young Ring-Snake was issuing; so 

 that there were some twelve hundred of the reptiles in an area of 

 a few feet (c/. letter to ' The Outlook,' vol. vi. p. 526). 



