Red Viper {Qdluber chersea L.). 399 



Art. IV. A Notice concerning the Red Viper (Coluber chersea 

 Lin.). By Hugh E. Strickland, Esq. 



Sir, 



There is no department of the British fauna in which 

 greater doubt and uncertainty exist than in the class of 

 reptiles ; and this is the more extraordinary, as our indige- 

 nous species are so very few in number. Thus, while in the 

 class of insects we have careful and accurate lists and de- 

 scriptions of upwards of 10,000 species, our native reptiles, 

 although not more than twelve or thirteen in number, have 

 been so neglected, that even the best works oh natural his- 

 tory contain many inaccurate statements respecting them. I 

 send you this paper, in the hope that it will aid in supplying 

 the deficiency of our knowledge on this subject ; not, indeed, 

 with a view of communicating any new discovery, but of 

 claiming a due degree of importance for an old one. 



The red viper was distinguished from the common one 

 (Coluber jBerus L.) by Linnaeus, and described by him under 

 the name of Coluber chersea. It was first noticed as a 

 British species by Mr. Rackett, in the Linncean Transactions, 

 vol. xii., where he states that it occurred in Cranbourne 

 Chase in Dorsetshire ; and Mr. Sheppard, in the same 

 work, has recorded his discovery of it in various parts of 

 Suffolk. Since that time, however, Dr. Leach, in the Zoolo- 

 gical Miscellany, has regarded this as a variety of the common 

 viper; and Dr. Fleming has done the same in his excellent? 

 work on British Animals* I conclude, however, that neither 

 of those authors can have seen the animal, as its characters 

 are such as to remove all doubt of its being a distinct species. 

 Two specimens were caught near Evesham in the summer of 

 1831, of which one was presented to the Zoological Society, 

 and the other is now in my collection. 



The most prominent distinction between the red and the 

 common viper consists in their size ; the former not exceed- 

 ing 9 in or 10 in. in length, while the latter often attains 3 ft. 

 The length of my specimen is 8fin., its largest circumfe- 

 rence 1 T V m * ^ * s °f a bright ferruginous red, with zigzag 

 markings down the back, resembling in form those of the 

 common viper ; but, instead of being black or dark brown, 

 they are of a deep mahogany colour. It has also a series o£ 

 irregular spots of the same colour along -each side. The 

 zigzag line terminates at the back of the head in a heart- 

 shaped spot, placed between, two converging dark-coloured 

 bands, which meet on the top of the head, and again diverge 

 towards the eyes. The head is much broader and shorter 



