262 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



BRITISH REPTILES. 



I have been reading your paper on 

 the British Reptiles. I find you have omit- 

 ted one, viz. : the "C.Lavis" the Smooth 

 Snake. I send you a sheet of a publication 

 called "Young England," published some 

 years ago, with a good figure of the snake. 

 I shall be glad to have it back again when 

 you have read it. As to the Edible Frog it 

 was found at Foulmin Fen, Cambs. ; some 

 years before it was found in Norfolk. The 

 first notice of it is in the vol. of the Zoolo- 

 gist for 1844, but my friend had known the 

 animal some years before, though he did not 

 know the name until September, 1833, and 

 from the quantity I saw in 1844, I think they 

 must have been there many years, the place 

 where they were found, being a very out of 

 the way place, will account for their not 

 having been noticed long before; an old 

 Fen-man told me, they had been there as 

 long as he could remember. I very much 

 doubt the Green Lizard, L. Viridis having 

 been really met with in this country, if one 

 or two have been taken they may have been 

 escaped ones, or may have been turned out, 

 I know of specimens that have escaped. 

 You have said nothing about the great vari- 

 ation in colour that the " Viper " is subject 

 to ; I have some specimens quite black, 

 browns of shades up to bright mahogany 

 I have also seen the ground with a creamy 

 white, and have one in spirits, and some 

 nearly as green as some of the common 

 snake. The Common snake does not seem 

 to vary much, the colours are much brighter 

 after changing their skin, as in the Smooth 

 snake. The Blind worm is very common in 

 places in the Isle of Portland, you could a 

 a few years ago, hardly turn over a large 

 stone without finding one. I have never 

 seen one coloured as you describe on the back, 

 which has always been brownish grey or 

 creamy white more or less mottled and 

 sometimes a few spots, the belly bluish 

 black ; there is in most specimens a narrow 



black line down the centre of the back. 



I think the following is a correct list of the 



Reptiles that are found in this country : — 



The Scaly Lizard 

 Sand Lizard 

 Slow Worm 

 Common Snake 

 Smooth Do. 

 Viper 



Common Frog 

 Edible Do. 

 Common Toad 

 Natterjack do. 

 Common Warty Newt 

 Smooth do. 

 Palmated do. 



The two Turtles are certainly only acci- 

 dental visitors. —Fredk. Bond, Staines, 

 Middlesex. 



A BOTANICAL RAMBLE IN 

 TEESDALE. 



By Dr. John W. Ellis. 



(Continued from page 25 5 .) 



Before breakfast next morning we found 

 time to explore the remains of Barnard 

 Castle, and obtained a fine view from the 

 summit of the Round Tower. After our 

 breakfast, we started afoot for Middleton, 

 but, after paying a visit at Cotherstone, we 

 took the train from the latter place to Mid- 

 dleton-in-Teesdale, sending all the " traps" 

 we could spare, home by rail. After a four 

 miles walk along the High Road to the 

 High Force Inn, we. struck off down a foot- 

 path on the left, and found ourselves at 

 Winch-Bridge, where the river is spanned 

 by a swing bridge, the undulations of which, 

 when you are walking across it, give one a 

 very uneasy feeling about the pit of the 

 stomach. After a good lunch on the other 

 side of the bridge, we commenced botanizing 

 in earnest, as the spot seemed a likely one 

 for rare plants ; and, indeed, we were fairly 

 rewarded by the following : — Potentilla Fruti- 

 cosa ; Galium boreale ; Equisetum umbrosum 

 (var. Dvummondii) ; the mealy Primrose 



