120" MISCELLANEA. , 



TLougli twelve years have elajisecl since the above passage was 

 written, the subject remains as doubtful as ever ; fear of their poisou 

 having probably been the means of sa\ang the Vipers from the 

 " direct experiment" here suggested. The following letter will there- 

 fore, I feel sure, be read with interest. The writer is a gi'eat friend 

 of mine : he is a son of Mr. Greorge Warde Norman, one of our 

 greatest political economists, and in his testimony the utmost re- 

 liance may be placed. He writes to me as follows : — 



" Bromley Common, 23rcl Oct. 1861. 



" Dear Lubbock, — The following are the particulars which you 

 requested me to send to you. 



On the 2nd of September I was out shooting with our game- 

 keeper. In walking through a wood, the keeper, who was a shori, dis- 

 tance behind me, noticed a viper on the ground. It was a little over 

 two feet long, but was not accurately measured. The keeper affirms 

 that directly the viper was disturbed, he saw two young ones run 

 into its mouth ; he is convinced that he saw two, and thinks, but 

 is not certain, that he saw three. He put his foot on it, cut its head 

 off, and brought the body to me. 



We commenced skinning it by turning the skin inside out, and 

 drawing it off from head to tail. On partially removing the skin, we 

 could see several young ones inside, which were all moving about and 

 seemed as lively as possible. In order to preserve them in the con- 

 dition in which they then were, we drew the skin on again and tied 

 up the orifice of the neck. On arriving at home, I opened the body 

 and found that all the young vipers, 11 in number, were dead, as I 

 imagined from suffocation. 



The keeper says, that he has several times before seen young 

 vipers when alarmed run into their mother's mouth for safety. 



Yours sincerely, 



PuiLiP Norman." 



Assuming, as I feel no hesitation in doing, that Mr. Norman's 

 statement is thoroughly correct, the only remaining question would 

 be whether the young vipers thus found in the body of their mother, 

 were the same which the keeper saw, or supposes that he saw, run- 

 ning into her mouth. My friend, not being an anatomist, does not 

 venture to state that the young were in the stomach, but he feels no 

 doubt that this was the case ; and, if they had been in the ovidiict 

 some traces of the foetal membranes would probably have been 

 perceived. I shall be happy to forward the specimens to any Na- 

 turalist who may wish to examine them. The young ones themselves 

 are eleven in number ; between six and seven inches in length ; and 

 were about to moult, a new layer of scales being fully formed under 

 the outer skin. I am unaware what is the condition and size of 

 young Anpurs, when they first see the light, but I do not imagine that 

 Ibhey could be of so large a size. 



I cannot but express a hope that Mr. Norman, having thus sho^vn 

 his interest in Natiu-al History, and his power of observing, will not 

 allow this to be his last contribution to our science. 



