BENNETT ON THE KINGED SNAKE. 29 



field adjoining the garden from which they had escaped, had seen a 

 monster like an eel in the grass, and had rnn away from it at once. 

 This made me search the place, bnt I got no trace of the Snake, and put 

 but little faith in the story. 



Again, the next summer, 1864, I was informed by letter that one 

 of my Snakes had been seen on a grass plot in the sun close to the house. 

 I should state that the demesne in which they had escaped is pecu- 

 liarly circumstanced. Not much more than twenty acres in extent, it 

 has ample cover, being closely planted, and is enclosed by a high wall 

 on all sides, the salt water of a branch of Cork Harbour limiting it on 

 two sides, and public roads on the others. I questioned the man who 

 was stated to have seen the Snake on my going to the place some time 

 in the summer of 1864, and I had little doubt that he had actually seen 

 it, from his description of its colour, &c. The summer passed, however, 

 without any further account of the Snakes. 



Last summer, in the end of June, I got a letter from my brother, 

 stating that the Snakes had been again seen, and that one had been 

 caught, and was safe alive in a bag, and that one old one and two young 

 had escaped at the time of their discovery. I at once wrote, in reply to 

 the question as to what I wished should be done with the Snake in cap- 

 tivity, telling him to let it go again where he got it. In a few days I 

 heard that my relatives had held a council of war over the Snake ; and 

 that, instead of letting it go, as was the first intention after the receipt of 

 my letter, they killed it and put it in spirits, as a safer and more satis- 

 factory way of getting rid of it and obliging me. I need not say I was 

 greatly disappointed when I heard of this barbarous act ; but I consoled 

 myself that I had good evidence of the fact of a Snake having at least 

 lived for three years at large in Ireland, and that I should have the 

 opportunity of snowing the actual specimen to the Natural History So- 

 ciety. 



I took care to get the history of the capture of this specimen from the 

 individual who first saw it last summer. While turning over some old 

 sticks, which lay near a hayrick that was being made, an intelligent 

 man started the Snakes : one large and two small Snakes escaped. A 

 line was formed around the sticks by the men at work, and the Snake 

 in this bottle was taken by pinning it down with a forked stick. The 

 man assured me that he had seen the three others escape, and stated that 

 the two small Snakes were about four inches long. I think there can be 

 no doubt that these were the offspring of the old pair. 



I have thought the history of these Snakes worth bringing before the 

 Society, and will be happy to continue it if I am fortunate enough to 

 hear more of those that escaped. 



This specimen is a female, and of full size — over three feet long, and 

 very fat ; and would have given origin to a goodly family if she had 

 lived for another season, as her ovarium was enormously full of ova. 



Dr. O'Donnayan, speaking as an archaeologist rather than a natu- 

 ralist, considered the absence of venomous animals from Ireland was 



