SNAKES 181 
big one, no less than two feet long, which is about as 
big as Adders grow. It was easily caught. The 
friend who gave it me saw it sunning itself after a 
good meal; it seemed too well filled and lazy to 
care about moving. My friend approached it with 
ease, held it down to the ground by pressing the 
point of his walking-stick on its neck, and then pre- 
vented it from doing any damage by removing its 
poison fang with a knife. The bite of an Adder is 
not fatal, but it might cause a serious illness. No 
one need. have any difficulty in knowing an Adder 
when he sees one; none but an ignoramus would 
mistake it for the common Ring Snake. The Adder 
is more serpent-like than the Ring Snake, thick in 
the middle of the body, and tapering quickly to 
both neck and tail. The Ring Snake is a more 
slender reptile. The Adder is a dull yellow, with 
black spots linked into each other along its back, 
while its sides have triangular black markings. It 
is black underneath. The Ring Snake is greenish- 
yellow in colour ; it grows to a greater length than 
the Adder, and its tail is drawn out to a fine point. 
I saw a paragraph in the newspaper the other 
day about our famous politician, Mr. Lloyd George, 
having an encounter with an Adder. As the story 
was told, it would seem as if there had been an alarm- 
ing fight, and that our Chancellor of the Exchequer 
was in danger of his life. I’m afraid the newspaper 
reporter must have drawn upon his journalistic 
imagination ; he certainly could not have been a 
naturalist. Adders do not attack men unless they 
are cornered ; and even if they did make an attack, 
it would be the easiest thing in the world to get out 
