NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
441 
is in favour of their doing so ; but at the same time there was 
little to support the statement beyond general opinion, which is 
subject so much to conjecture. Although, therefore, Mr. White 
has given a very charming account of a popular idea, accurate 
scientific investigation since his time has not confirmed his 
views, and people in England who consider the question of the 
storage of water attach no importance whatever to the presence 
of trees in promoting that object on any scale in this country. 
With regard to the formation of dew-ponds on the chalk hills, 
you must refer to the Eev. J. Clutterbuck, Long Wittenham, 
Abingdon, Conservator of the Thames, who has v/ritten and 
knows more upon that subject than any one else in this country. 
"W. M." 
Lord Northwick, who for many years past has kept meteoro- 
logical records at his seat near Tenbury, informs me that he has 
ascertained by experiment that a rain guage of a given size, 
without vegetation, catches three times as much water as a 
similar guage planted with vegetation. The vegetation absorbs 
the water. His Lordship argues, from the above observation, 
that less drainage is required in pasture lands than where there 
is no vegetation. 
Viper Swallowing its Young, p. 205. — It is still believed by 
many that a female viper will swallow her young when they are in 
peril. In nearly all the cases that have come under my exami- 
nation, the event always happened a long time ago. The witness 
generally begins his statement thus : " AVhen I was a little boy," 
" Many years ago," " My grandmother told me," &c. &c. If 
vipers swallowed their young " many years ago," why should 
they not do so in our time ? A correspondence on this subject 
takes place in Land and Water almost every year. I have made 
many anatomical preparations to show that the young vipers 
found inside the mother have never been born. I still continue 
my public offer of a reward of £1 for a specimen of a viper 
which has been seen to swallow its young, the young being 
actnally in the cesophagn'-., oi\ in the stomach pTO]jer, when it 
is opened by me in the presence of witnesses. The result of the 
correspondence on the viper swallowing its young has been thus 
put into verse by my friend, Henry Lee : — 
The V iPER {not) Swallowing its Young. 
Tune — Lord Lovel. 
Frank Buckland he stood at his casting slate. 
Smoking his usual weed, 
When there came a smart ring at the front-door bell, 
Which J ohn ran to answer with speed, speed, speed, 
Which John ran to answer with speed. 
