3 JULY 1953, Page 32

"The Serpents of the Abruzzi"

SIR,—I would like to apologise to you and to the readers of the Spectator for two mistakes which appeared in my article about the Serpents of the Abruzzi. The site of the serpent-feast is Cocullo, not Corullo, and the word " Preachers," applied to the Order of St. Dominic, or Ordo Predlcatorum appeared between inverted commas, giving a suggestion of irony which I am very far from feeling. With

renewed apologies.—Yours faithfully, PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR. Castello della Rocca di Port'Ercole, Orbetello, Tuscany.