_Slow-worm Superstition_ (Vol. vii., p. 33.).--The belief that the
slow-worm cannot die until sunset prevails in Dorsetshire. In the New
Forest the same superstition exists with regard to the brown adder. Walking
in the heathy country between Beaulieu and Christ Church I saw a very large
snake of this kind, recently beaten to death by the peasant boys, and on
remarking that the lower jaw continued to move convulsively, I was told it
would do so "till the moon was up."
An aged woman, now deceased, who had when young been severely bitten by a
snake, told me she always felt a severe pain and swelling near where the
wound had been, on the anniversary of the occurrence. Is this common? and
can it be accounted for?