his prey whole. Catching it first, as Mrs.
Glasse would say, between his teeth, which
are in double rows upon each jaw, and
directed backwards that they may act more
effectually, he first brings the victim to a
suitable position—head first, he prefers. Then,
leaving one set of teeth, say the lower, fixed,
he advances the upper jaw, fixes its teeth
into the skin, and leaves them there while he
moves forward the lower jaw, and so continues
till the bird or frog is worked into his throat;
it is then swallowed by the agency of other
muscles. This power of moving each jaw
freely and in independence of the other, is
peculiar to Ophidian reptiles. The frog may
reach the stomach both alive and active, so
that if, afterwards, the snake gapes, as he is
apt to do, a frog has been seen to leap out
again. The processes of life are so slow in
reptiles, that one meal will not be digested
by the snake for many days. He is unable to
digest vegetable matter. Our snake is very
harmless, and if kept and fed, will quickly
learn to recognise its patron, will feed out of
his hand, and nestle up his sleeve; but he
shows a dread of strangers.

We have Adders? Yes, we have a Viper,—
Pelias Berus is the name he goes by, and his
fangs are undeniable. This is the only native
reptile that can, in any degree whatever, hurt
a man. It is common in England, and, unlike
the snake, prefers a dry place to a moist
one. "Adder" and "viper" are two words
applied to the same thing—adder being
derived from the Saxon word for "nether," and
viper from viviper; because this reptile, like
our common lizard, hatches her eggs within
the body, or is viviparous. Our viper is
found all over Europe; not in Ireland. As
for Ireland, it is an old boast with the Irish
that Saint Patrick banned away all reptiles.
The paucity of reptiles in Ireland is remarkable,
but they are not altogether absent. Our
common lizard has a large Irish connexion,
and frogs were introduced into Ireland years
ago. Their spawn was taken over, put into
water, throve, and thereafter frogs have
multiplied. An attempt was also made to
introduce our common snake, but the country-
people, with great horror, killed the
interlopers; a reward even was offered for one
that was known to remain uncaptured.
Ireland is free from adders.

The most ready distinction between a
common snake and an adder, to unfamiliar
eyes, is founded on the difference of marking.
While the snake has separate alternate spots,
the adder has, down its back, a chain of dark
spots, irregularly square, and joined to one
another. Adders are generally brown, but
differ very much in colour. They have on
their upper jaw, instead of their lower, a row
of teeth, the well-known fangs. These are
long, curved teeth, fixed into a moveable piece
of bone, and hollow. The hollow is not made
out of the substance of the tooth; it is as if a
broad flat tooth had been bent round upon
itself to form a tube. The tube is open
below and behind, in the curve, by a little
slit. Above, it is open, and rests upon a
tiny bag connected with a gland that
corresponds to a gland in man for the secretion of
saliva; but which, in the present case, secretes
a poison. The fang, when out of use, is bent
and hidden in a fleshy case; in feeding, it is
rarely used. The viper catches for himself
his birds or mice, after the manner of a
harmless serpent. But, when hurt or angered,
he throws back his neck, drops his fang
ready for service, bites, and withdraws his
head immediately. The fang in penetrating,
of necessity, was pressed upon the little bag
of poison at its root, and forced a drop along
the tube into the wound. After a few bites,
the bag becomes exhausted, and the adder
must wait for a fresh secretion. The poison
has no taste or smell, and may be swallowed
with impunity, if there be no raw surface in
the mouth, or sore upon the throat, or in the
stomach. It is only through a wound that it
can act like poison. The bite of an adder in
this country never yet proved fatal; but,
according to the health of the person bitten,
and according to the greater or less heat of
the weather (for in very hot weather a more
active poison is secreted), the wound made
will be more or less severe. It is advisable
to get out of an adder's way.

All the remaining reptiles in this country
are two species of Frog, two species of Toad,
and four Newts. They are not only most
absolutely harmless, but, the frogs, at any rate, and
toads, are ministers to man; and they belong to
a class of animals more interesting than any
other, perhaps, in the whole range of natural
history. We are all well acquainted with the
common frog, whose grander name is Rana
temporaria. We see it—and it is to be feared
some of us kill it—in our gardens, among
strawberry beds and damp vegetation. But,
whereas frogs feed upon those slugs and
insects which are in the habit of pasturing
upon our plants, and are themselves indebted
to us for not a grain of vegetable matter, we
ought by all means to be grateful to them.
So industrious are frogs in slug-hunting, that
it would be quite worth while to introduce
them as sub-gardeners upon our flower-beds.
In catching insects, the frog suddenly darts
out his tongue, which, at the hinder part, is
loose, and covered with a gummy matter.
The insect is caught, and the tongue returned
with wonderful rapidity. The frog, when it
is first hatched, has the constitution of a fish:
it is purely aquatic; has a fish's heart, a fish's
circulation, and a fish's gills. The tadpole
swims as a fish does—by the movement, sideways,
of its tail. For the unassisted eye, and
still more for the microscope, what spectacle
can be more marvellous than the gradual
process of change by which this tiny fish
becomes a reptile? Legs bud; the fish-like
gills dwindle by a vital process of absorption;
the fish-like air-bladder becomes transmuted,