A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE enemies, and abundance of shelter. In fact the civilization of the low-lying land under farming operations has driven the adder to seek the seclusion of the bracken and lonely woods of Garway Hill and the neighbouring districts. The average length of the adult male adder in the county is 24 in., that of the adult female 25Jin., both these figures being the highest average length for any part of Great Britain. An immense range of colour variation is found to obtain in the adders." A careful consideration of all the possible factors leads to the conclusion that the colouring is almost entirely a matter of age and sex. Certain colours are characteristic of males, others of females : some colours are restricted to particular parts of the body of one or other sex. Young males are the most brilliantly coloured : old females the least. Climate and locality appear to have but little or no influence on colour variation, all varieties being found in a series of adders collected on the southern aspect of Garway Hill. The food of the adders was found by actual dissection to consist chiefly of mice, slow- worms, and newts, occasionally birds. The average number of young in the adder litter, determined by dissection of a series of gravid females proved to be thirteen. The size when born varies from 6 in. to 7J in. The small red variety of the adder (known as the small red viper) occurs on Garway Hill. Cases of adder bite amongst the domestic animals occur not infrequently, especially in cattle, sheep, and dogs. A fatal case in a Hereford cow came under the notice of the writer, who captured the adder lying beside its victim on a farm on Garway Hill. As is usually the case the bite was on the udder. As regards the group of Batrachians this county has no specially characteristic features. REPTILES LACERTILIA 1 . Common or Viviparous Lizard. Lacerta v'lvlpara, Jacq. In no part of the county is this lizard common, and in many parts it is entirely absent. (^Sand Lizard. Lacerta agilis, Linn. This species does not occur anywhere in the county.] 2. Slow-worm, or Blindworm. Anguis fragiiis, Linn. Fairly common in all parts of the county, attaining an average length of from sixteen to seventeen inches. In the Monnow Valley it is the only lizard which occurs, being very common on the slopes of Garway Hill, the woods of Kentchurch Estate, and in the neighbourhood of Ewyas Harold. It can be found in almost every old quarry. OPHIDIA 3. Common or Ringed Snake. Tropidonoius natrix, Linn. {Natrix torquata, Ray.) In the district of Whitchurch, near Ross, this species is more common than the adder. It also occurs at Fownhope, Stoke Edith, Cradley, and less commonly / in other parts. In the Monnow Valley one specimen only has been recorded, and that from Kentchurch Park. The average number of eggs deposited by the ring-snake in a season varies from twenty to thirty. 4. Common Viper or Adder. Vipera berus, Linn. This species is by far more common in that part of the county which lies to the south of the Wye than in the northern portion. It is the only snake in the Monnow Valley from Pontrilas to Skenfrith, and is common throughout the whole length of that eight miles. Some limited portions of Garway Hill are infested with adders. They are seen every year on the Tump at Ewyas Harold (a little hillock about a hundred yards from the centre of the village). On Welsh Newton Common, and near Symond's Yat adders can be found with ease in suitable spots. In one wood on the Hilston Estate, near Skenfrith the writer captured four female adders, all measuring over z6 in. in length in one afternoon. ' Pnc. Dorset Nat. Hiit. Field Club, xxii. 128
