different Species of Viper. 189 



made out by Fleming, and which Sir William reduces to 

 eleven by discarding the Dumfriesshire snake. As Sir William 

 treats the Dumfriesshire snake, so does Dr. Fleming deal with 

 Sir William's lizard species, treating them as mere varieties 

 of the existing, or post-diluvian, class of Sauria.* 



As, in making out the number of the different saurian spe- 

 cies, so, in filling up that of the venomous ophidian genus, the 

 contributors " have exalted the varieties of the animal into 

 distinct species, chiefly from characters depending on their 

 colours." Taking colour for a guide, Pennant makes but two 

 varieties, one dirty yellow, the other wholly black ; yet even 

 in this latter kind he says the rhomboidal spots are very 

 conspicuous. 



Colour is a most uncertain test, because people differ so 

 much in their ideas of it. For example, what Pennant (and, 

 after him, Fleming) calls dirty yellow, the writer would de- 

 scribe as the colour of a healthy clean-barked ash tree, that is, 

 more grey than yellow ; for, of a number of specimens 

 examined, but one decidedly answered to Pennant's dirty 

 yellow : the rest were more or less dusky, or greyish. About 

 two dozen vipers, varying from 10 in. to 26 in. in length, have 

 been narrowly examined. Those which were under, or about, 

 1 ft. in length, may be described as being of a pale bright ash- 

 colour, with a hue inclining to very light brown — reddish, if 

 it please others to call it so ; but the dark spots, though not 

 so distinctly and deeply dark as in the larger specimens, did 

 not exhibit a "deep mahogany colour." In 1829, a specimen 

 killed by being trodden upon was brought: it was little more 

 than 10 in. long, and of an extremely light colour: but, 

 perhaps, it had been bleached in the sun a day or two. 

 Another and fresh-killed specimen, somewhat longer than 

 the last mentioned, inclined to a reddish hue; and, had 

 the fancy been strong enough, it might have passed muster as 

 the red viper, though perhaps 4? in. longer than Mr. Strick- 

 land's specimen, of which an account, in Vol. VI. p. 399., is 

 given. By an entry in a note-book, it appears that a viper 



* In 1830, on removing some logs of timber, under one I saw and secured 

 a small lizard, entirely black on the back and sides, and nearly black, but 

 with a brownish tinge, under the throat and belly, something, but not much, 

 lighter than the other parts ; the length nearly 3§ in. ; toes very slender ; 

 and, except that the snout was rounded like an alligator in miniature, 

 having on the ridge of the back, from the neck to the tip of the tail, a row 

 of hook-formed points, shaped like the thorn of the briar. It agrees with 

 none of the five varieties as described by Ray. Is it possible, then, this 

 little " gentleman in black " can be the hitherto undiscovered species 

 destined to fill up Sir W. Jardine's desiderated number twelve ? If so, it 

 shall be named, not after so illustrious a person as the discoverer, but after 

 the place where found ; namely, L. waverbankiana ! 



p 3 



