9 8 
Tipula Vafra Riedel in Yorkshire. 
Afterwards she seemed as friendly (or tolerant ?) as ever. 
Three days later she was unusually active, and showed signs 
of anger ; she resented handling and seemed generally 
unreliable. Thinking she might like company, on the 21st I 
introduced two male grass snakes (Natrix natrix) into her 
cage and Victoria seemed friendly disposed towards the smaller, 
with which she used to bask. 
Always after feeding, Victoria used to sit head erect for a 
few hours, but from now onwards she was often observed in 
this attitude, sometimes with her mouth slightly open, this 
being a sure sign of illness. She became more restless and 
resentful of handling so she was left in her cage undisturbed. 
However, there were intervals when she seemed more normal. 
On 7th March I put into the cage for the grass snakes, 
two frogs (Rana temporara) which seemed to annoy and upset 
Victoria as they kept jumping about the cage. On the 
following afternoon she was lying dead, head propped erect 
in a corner of the cage, apparently in excellent condition still, 
after thhd^-one weeks in captivity. 
Dr. Morrison tells me, ‘ The average life of an adder in 
captivity is about six or seven weeks ; occasionally one may 
survive for ten or even twelve weeks, but these are rare 
exceptions. Therefore Victoria has created a record for 
longevity in confinement.’ 
From September 7th to September 21st Victoria was kept 
at my home in Long Lane, Dalton, then from September 21st 
to her death on March 8th, 1933, at the Tolson Memorial 
Museum, Huddersfield. 
TIPULA VAFRA RIEDEL IN YORKSHIRE. 
CHRIS. A. CHEETHAM. 
There is a small area of Schoenus nigricans at Thieves Moss, 
close to Sulber Gate, which lies about 1,200 feet O.D. at 
the head of Crummockdale. On the 14th of September last 
year, I saw one or two Tipulids here which looked like Tipula 
alpium or T . marmorata but flew rather quicker. I caught 
one but did not examine it until recently when I found it 
was Tipula vafra which has not been caught in England 
previously. 
The species was first described by M. P. Riedel 1 from 
material collected in Finland, Lapland, and the Baltic 
coast of Germany. It was added to the British list in 1926 
by Dr. F. W. Edwards, who found that a pair collected at 
Logie, Elgin, N.B., by F. Jenkinson, 13/9/04, belonged to 
this species. I think more could have been caught at the 
time I collected this specimen, but it seems to be a species 
with a short season late in the year. 
1 Abhl., Lehr, Nat., Crefeld, 1913. 
The Naturalist 
