S50 Dr Smith on the Snakes of Southern Africa. 



tomical examination, its proper genus. If examples of all sorts 

 of snakes could be procured alive, and kept so for some consi- 

 derable time, /many excellent specific characters, as well as va- 

 luable generic distinctions, would doubtless be obtained, and 

 classifications, which have hitherto been formed upon insufficient 

 data, might certainly be fixed upon clear and lasting principles. 

 Indeed so convinced am I of that being practicable, that I have, 

 for some time past, been forming a collection of live snakes ; and, 

 from experience, I find that the more their natural dispositions 

 and appearances are remarked, the more perceptible is the in- 

 sufficiency of our present divisions, and the want of reform. 



To attempt the latter, however, with any prospect of success, 

 would require, previously, great observation and extensive expe- 

 rience, both of which must be the work of time ; and therefore, 

 by waiting for them, other persons might notice what we ought 

 to do at least in relation to our own colonies. Therefore, to 

 prevent that happening to the Cape of Good Hope, I propose, 

 in successive papers, to give short sketches of the different spe- 

 cies of the serpent tribe which are actually contained in our in- 

 fant museum, dividing them, for the time being, according to 

 the most popular classification ai present in use. 



VIPERA. 



a. With orhicuJo-cordate Head, and Fangs. 

 1. ViPERA iiiflata. Burchell. 

 Piiff- Adder of the Inhabitants. 



Ground colour above, varying from brown to brownish-yellow or dirty yel- 

 low, and variegated throughout by transverse curved or ziz-zag bands of 

 black, and bright yellow or cream-colour. The bright yellow or cream- 

 colour, which ever of them it happens to be, is generally found immediate- 

 ly behind the black ones, and the same colour is invariably observed mark- 

 ing more or less of other scales in various situations. The lateral portions 

 of the black bands are mostly somewhat semicircular with their curvatures 

 backwards ; the central parts again acutely angular or arrow-shaped, with 

 their points nearly in the middle of the back, and directed towards the 

 tail. The bands on the anterior and middle parts of the body are for the 

 most part continuous, though marked by such a serpentine course, but 

 near the tail they become much less distinct, and are often either com- 

 pletely interrupted or lost. Towards the middle as well as more forwards, 

 they have three distinct curvatures or angles, one on each side, being ge- 

 nerally semicircular, and the third on the middle of the back mostly acute 

 and angular. Besides those three portions, some of the bands have at 

 their extremities also a black blotch on each side, which in some in- 

 stances arc connected to them, but in the majority are separate. The 



