lxxviii 



PROLEGOMENA 



Reptiles. The only local reptile that seems to show a tendency in the 



direction of variation is the Common Viper. Most of the 

 Lakeland Vipers are grey or brown in ground colour, regardless 

 of their sex. The only instance at present known to me of 

 the capture of a ' red ' individual within our limits, relates to 

 a Viper which Joseph Boadle presented to the Whitehaven 

 Museum. ' Instead of being grey and black, it is a dull ferru- 

 ginous red, and the zigzag markings are a dark mahogany 

 colour.' 1 This animal had been caught near Eig House, Dean, 

 West Cumberland. The late Mr. Kirkby of Ulverston once 

 met with the very remarkable Viper here figured. He showed 



Variety of the Common Viper. 



it to me a short time before his death. It was taken with his 



own hands in the neighbourhood of Ulverston, where he lived 



so long. It was unique to his experience. The ground colour 



of this snake is uniformly olive grey. The curious feature is 



that the usual zigzag dorsal pattern is entirely absent, and has 



been replaced by the even, ribbon-like black band depicted in 



the woodcut, which has been drawn from a photograph of the 



specimen. 



i Whitehaven Times, December 3, 1874. 



