Page:British Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fresh-water Fishes.djvu/19

INTRODUCTION (Coronella austriaca), is believed to be very rare, and whilst in some districts the two remaining species (Adder and Grass Snake) are plentiful, there are, as has been stated previously, many places that are Snakeless regions, and our own three species are confined to certain parts of England, Scotland, and Wales.

Being inhabitants of warm, or, at any rate, temperate countries, our own changeable climate is apparently unsuited for these disdained creatures of the wild, yet Lizards do find a congenial home much further North than Snakes, and at higher elevations. Further points are dealt with under the life history of the three species included hereafter, but it should be pointed out how much original work requires to be done to enable us to piece together the place these despised animals occupy in the economy of life. For countless centuries Snakes have been regarded with awe, fear, or superstition, and the whole of this little volume could quite easily be filled with quotations from poets and philosophers, as well as scientists and sages, who have perpetrated sad errors concerning them. Strange indeed that the Class Reptilia,. coming as it does between our feathered bipeds on the one hand and the amphibians on the other, should be so looked down upon when, as a matter of scientific lore, the reptiles are cousins of them both. Our earliest known birds can be popularly referred to as Flying Reptiles, for as such they are revealed by fossil remains which the earth has yielded. These weird creatures were devoid of feathers, had large bulbous eyes, great 3