REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS The greater portion of the land of the county of Essex is arable, mostly in a condition of high cultivation, and there is no large sandy waste, open common, or bog, and with the exception of Epping Forest, no extensive woodland. Any large area of this character does not present the most favour- able condition for the habitat of some of the members of these classes, and therefore it may be readily understood that those species, to which an open sandy district is almost a necessity of their existence, will not be found ; but these are few in number, and do not prevent the total species of the Essex list from comparing favourably with, in this respect, more richly endowed counties. The number of species of reptiles recognized as inhabiting Great Britain is seven, and including the edible frog (Rana esculenta) six batrachians. Of this number, Essex possesses four reptiles and six batrachians, but the evidence is hardly sufficient to enable it to be said that the edible frog has succeeded in becoming established in those localities, in Epping Forest and elsewhere, where various attempts have been made to naturalize it. Those introduced by the late Mr. Doubleday in Epping Forest did well for a time, but every colony would seem to have disappeared. This frog is claimed for several counties as a member of their fauna, but wherever found there can be no doubt of its having been introduced from the continent. The absence of sandy wastes from all parts of Essex accounts for the sand lizard never having been found in this county, and probably also the same cause is responsible for the fact of the smooth snake having never been seen, its favourite food, the sand lizard, not occurring. The slow worm is not found so frequently as it was some years ago, and one of the causes of the diminution in numbers of this species, and of the snakes generally, for they also are less abundant, is the great alterations that have been made in the hedgerows within the last half or three-quarters of a century. Before that time hedges were higher and broader, and often the hedge and bank occupied perhaps three times the space they do at the present time, and this diminution of their place of refuge and hunting ground has not only affected reptiles unfavourably, but mammals and birds as well. 230
